Lost and Alone
by DinoWriter23
Summary: Reposting. Clair Fay has woken up to find herself in an apocalyptic world with no memory of who she is or how she got there. Worse, strange monsters are coming after her because they know who she is, and they don't like her. Will she be able to stay alive in a world that has died? Cover done by Flautist4ever
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone. You're probably familiar with this story, but I took it down because I wasn't sure if I was going to continue it. A fan asked if it could be reposted, so it's back from the dead. Enjoy.**

 **I don't own the Walking Dead. Clair Fay is mine.**

* * *

I woke up with a splitting headache. My head felt like someone dropped a building on it. As I opened my eyes I saw I was in some grocery store.

That wasn't the only thing that was weird. There was hardly anything left on the shelves. Most of the stuff was scattered across the floor, and several shelves had toppled over. What happened here?.

What struck me as even weirder was the lights were out. This place should've been operational yet it seemed like power's been out for months. The only light came from what looked like the exit in front of me, and some windows in the ceiling. What was the point of putting a window above you when all you'd ever see was the sky? Was this area hit by some natural disaster not too long ago? No, that wasn't it. The place had lots of dust and there were leaves from outside scattered everywhere.

As I stood up I had to hold my hand to my head. Ugh. Why does my head have to feel like it's splitting open? For the record, who was I? I couldn't remember anything from before.

A box fell to the floor. It seemed to come from further in the store. As I listened I could hear heavy breathing and shuffling. That confused me. Who would shuffle around? And that…moaning.

It hit me. This place must've been robbed and there was someone in the back who was hurt. But how would I help them when I couldn't even remember my own name? Well, may as well see how bad their injuries are and do my best to help out the old fashioned way.

I made my way around the boxes of food that were scattered everywhere. Several were opened and the contents scattered about. Why is it that I can know all these things yet my identity elude me?

The moaning was getting louder now. The voice was also raspy, like they couldn't breathe. Were they suffocating? What world is this? It's not enough to simply mug someone and make off with their wallets anymore?

Ugh. The stench. I almost threw up because of it. They smelled like someone died in a dumpster filled with rotten eggs and fish, and some random skunks decided to spray the thing.

Something didn't feel right here. I had a really bad feeling that was telling me I needed to get as far away as possible.

I heard a loud crash somewhere behind me. Judging from the sound it might've come from the doors to this place. I heard someone, a man, say something I didn't recognize. All I could do was hope it wasn't some swear word. It sounded like he had buddies, two or three from the sound of the footsteps.

What was that? I hadn't turned my attention away from in front of me, and I saw something rising in the shadows. I don't think it saw me, but it acted as if someone rang the dinner bell. I saw a few more shadows moving. Why did they all have that foul smell?

My instincts told me I needed to hide. I looked around to find a good place. Thankfully not too far away was a closet that looked like had been forced open. Quietly I hurried to the closet and pulled it nearly shut. It wouldn't close all the way, but I could hold it just enough to hide me while giving me a good view of what was going on.

When I finally saw the things come into the light that was available my eyes widened. They were rotting. I'm not kidding. Their skin was grey and clammy, and several areas were showing the muscles and bone. I just know whoever or whatever they are, living wouldn't classify them.

Even though it was dark I could tell more of those things were moving towards the sound. Whatever they are, it's like they're attracted to noise. I hope they can't hear heartbeats because mine was making a huge ruckus in my chest.

I heard the men shout and blasts rang through the store. They must've spotted those things and shot them with guns. Not the quietest weapon in existence, genius. The things that hadn't gone by now moved more quickly. It was when I heard someone scream and flesh being torn apart that I realized what was going on. After I gagged as quietly as possible.

These rotting people were hunters! They must sense prey with their hearing and move towards the source of whatever made some noise. If it was a person, not good. I could still hear shouting from the others, but it sounded like they were leaving their buddy behind.

The things seemed to have gotten to their meal. Quietly as I could I opened the door and began to sneak out of the store. I kept ducking behind the shelves to avoid detection. The sound of those things eating the poor soul fills my ears and my heart lurched. That guy didn't deserve this fate. Why'd he have to go like this? Why in this universe would something so horrible be allowed to…

Something snarled and tackled me from behind. We both fell. I looked to see one of those things was trying to take a bite out of my spleen. Oh no you don't! I punched it with my fist. It didn't do anything so I punched it again. It still maintained it's purpose of trying to bite me.

Lying on a shelf nearby was some pole. I grabbed it just in time to shove it into the thing's mouth. I finally noticed my waist had a lot of knives and a couple of tomahawks? Why am I carrying those?

The thing snarled. Using the pole to keep it back I drew one of those knives. The blade was made of stone? What the…no time to question. I buried the knife in the thing's head. It finally went down. In the dim light I realized this had been a woman.

More growls and snarls. I turned and saw some more of those things, men and women, were coming at me. The scuffle must've alerted them that something else was for breakfast. Me.

Well, not if I can help it.

I took the knife and threw it at one that used to be a middle-aged man, from the looks. Direct hit. In the chest. What the? _He was still coming_!

Throwing the corpse of the woman off me, I took out my tomahawks and prepared for a fight. I don't think I was going to last long against all of them.

The dude was almost on me, snarling and making me more scared than I already was. I swung my weapon at his neck, slicing it open and sending him tumbling. The next one, a heavyset guy, I sliced open his stomach and kicked his leg so hard I heard it break.

Without a second wasted I kicked out behind me and felt my foot connect with one of them. I heard it fall onto a shelf as its skull cracked. Gross! Focus. Death is literally coming towards you.

The other things were almost on me, so I started slicing their arms and legs. How was I so good and skilled? No time to worry about that! I kept swinging my weapons and crippled them.

Breathing heavily, I retrieved the knife I had thrown earlier. It was still embedded in the chest. The thing tried to grab me. It was still alive!

I jumped and moved back as I turned to look behind me. Those things were all still alive! They were all growling fiercely and moving towards me despite the wounds I inflicted on them. They should've died from them. Unless…

I was standing under a window, and relatively close to the doors, so I could see them a little better. The eyes were completely white and soulless, and the lips of many had fallen off. Many of them had fresh wounds bleeding and the big one had some guts spilling out. I've seen a lot of disturbing things but nothing like this. It was beyond disgusting.

One was almost at me, crawling on the ground where I had broken its leg. I swung my foot at its head. The kick I gave it was enough that I heard the skull crack. Not a pleasant sound. The thing stopped moving after that.

I then kicked the one that had my knife just as hard. Not checking to see if it was down or not I retrieved my knife. I still don't understand what's going on here but I know there's one thing I had to do.

I bolted out of the store.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter 2. I hope you enjoy.**

 **I don't own The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay, Ursula, and the other survivors in this chapter are mine.**

* * *

Chapter 2

The sight outside the store was even more shocking to me. Cars were everywhere, and some of them were flipped over. Was it because of those things? They couldn't be new because the glass was broken and doors were hanging open.

I heard growling right behind me. I turned. They were walking, and in some cases crawling, out of the store behind me. No time to waste. I had to ditch these things and pronto!

I just ran down the street. It looked like this entire town was abandoned. There was spray paint on the buildings and all the windows were either boarded up or shattered. What had happened?

I shook my head and kept running. I could feel myself getting tired, but I knew if I stopped those things would get me. I looked back. I had put some distance between them, and me but whatever they were, they were still coming.

I could see some trees in the distance. Maybe if there was a forest nearby I could get to safety. I turned down the nearest street.

I nearly crashed into someone. "Hey, what the—"

"Adam! Hurry!" Another voice said. The person, Adam, grabbed me and pulled me into a building. Someone quickly closed the door behind us. There was a dim light, and someone put their finger to their lips. I guess I must've had a confused look on my face because Adam whispered to me, "Be quiet!" I may not remember a lot of things, but I knew enough that talking right now was a bad idea.

We sat there in the dark, listening to the sound of those monsters go by. I was sure the growls they were making would haunt my dreams for a long time. That was if their faces didn't do the trick.

Finally someone dared to lift a loose board to peek outside. "They're gone," she said.

I sighed. That was something I did not want to do again.

"What are you thinking Adam?" Someone, a woman, asked Adam. In the light I could see she was about thirty. "You can't just bring in stray people."

"She bumped into me!" Adam defended himself. He had short blond hair and looked to be in his mid-twenties.

The board was replaced and the girl walked to us. She had dark skin and blue eyes. "Look, those things would still be here if Adam left her out there."

"Shut up Teresa." The woman told her. "We have rules. What if she's with another group?"

"There are more?" I asked.

"You mean besides you? You tell me!" The woman growled.

I decided I didn't like her.

"Ursula, look at her," the person who motioned me to be quiet earlier said, "Her clothes aren't worn or fading like ours. Her skin's also clean, and doesn't have any scars or scratches. It's like she was in a bubble until now."

Ursula looked at him. "What are you saying, Robert?"

"She might not have a clue as to what's going on."

Adam looked at me. "Who are you?"

I sighed. "I wish I knew. I can't remember a thing. The only thing I can remember is waking up in a store where I was attacked by those things."

Ursula swore. "Are you bitten?"

"Those…things, they tried, but they didn't." I said.

Teresa walked over and checked me. "I don't see any bites. You're lucky the walkers didn't get you."

"Wait. Did you say you were in a store?" Adam asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

"We were in there earlier. The walkers got Joe." Adam said sadly.

Ursula gasped. "Joe? No. NO!"

Joe must've been that guy I heard get eaten. Are the walkers those things out there? Come on. They could've thought of something better to call them.

Instead I decided to say, "Just what in the world is going on?"

"The apocalypse," Robert said, "Least that's what I think. Started a couple of years ago. There were news reports about a deadly virus spreading at an uncontrollable rate. Next thing we know the dead are up and walking about. Hence the name walkers."

I like Robert. Sure his face was bearded and he was old, but he seemed really friendly. He also knew a few things.

"Not only are the dead no longer dead, but they eat anyone and anything they find," Teresa added, "Most people have abandoned cities and towns to try and evade the walkers."

"But couldn't you have come up with a better name for them?" I asked.

Ursula pointed a finger at me. "You don't get to ask questions!"

"Ursula, come on. We're one person down, and she's armed to the tooth!" Adam said. "She's got those knives, those tomahawks, and that bow and those arrows."

I raised an eyebrow. "Bow and arrows?"

"On your back." Teresa pointed out.

I reached behind me. Sure enough I felt something wooden there. I lifted it up to feel something thing bite into my chin. Must've been the string. How did I know that?

Finally I was able to get it off. That's strange. I've never seen it before, yet it looked so familiar. In my heart I felt like I knew it was mine, but my mind…I was getting a headache trying to figure out why I couldn't remember.

I was about to put it back when my finger slid against something. In the dim light I couldn't tell, but from feeling it I think they were carvings of a name.

"There's a name here," I said.

Teresa looked at it. "Clair Fay," she said.

Adam looked confused. "What kind of a name is that?"

"My name." I said. When Teresa said it I remembered. That was my name.

"Well, Clair, I can tell you that you're not staying here." Ursula told me.

"Ursula, come on," Robert started.

Ursula wouldn't have it. "Far as I can see you were responsible for Joe's death." She grabbed my wrists and started tying me up. "You're going back out there and the walkers can have you for lunch!"

"Let go!" I said trying to pull myself free. That woman had a grip like iron. She was getting close to finishing up what she started. That's when I kicked her in the leg.

"You little…" She started as she hopped around on one foot. I pulled the rope off my hands and ran outside. The light blinded me for a few seconds, but once my eyes adjusted I started running. I decided to go in the direction the walkers didn't go.

And as far away from Ursula as possible.

* * *

 **Well, that could've gone better. At least she knows her name now.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Now to continue with Clair's adventures.**

 **I don't own the Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

* * *

Chapter 3

I ran through the now empty town. I couldn't believe that someone would actually tried to kill me all because they blamed me for a friend's death. Why would they do that? This only meant one thing:

I had to get as far away from this town as I could.

There were cars around, but I didn't know how to use them. I doubted any of them would be very good now. The hoods of several had been opened and many were rusting.

I just had to keep going. I kept ducking behind the cars and anything I could find. No sense to leave a clear trail in case Ursula decided to come after me. She seemed pretty dead set on killing me.

Why did I say that?

I climbed up a chain-linked fence to an alleyway. I had to make sure I wouldn't be found. Somehow I found the alleyway very scary, but there's no chance of any…

A walker came out of a dumpster snarling at me. Me and my big mouth! It lunged at me, but I was able to block it with my bow. The thing kept snarling and coming at me. I kicked its head and started running. Just what does it take to kill these things?

I heard more snarling. Great. I wandered into a walker-infested alley. Is this always going to happen to me? I can't just keep running into these things.

A child walker almost got my leg. I slashed her face with a knife before I kept running. There's the end of the alley! And someone's half-eaten corpse was there. Ugh. Disgusting.

As I approached the corpse its eyes opened and it snarled at me. Before I knew what I was doing I leapt up, pushed off from the wall, and cleared the fence and the walkers. To my surprise I landed neatly on the sidewalk on the other side. I turned back to see the walkers were starting to push against the fence. They really don't give up, do they?

On a positive note, the woods were now right in front of me. I took off into the forest and didn't look back.

* * *

The sun was setting as I continued through the woods. I left the town far behind me, and I was trying to find someplace to settle for the night. There was no way I was going to take my chances on the ground. For all I knew I could wake up to find some carcass eating me, or someone who might want to kill me.

There had to be somewhere I could settle for the night, but where? Bushes wouldn't keep me covered enough, and something might be living in them. No mountains means no caves I could take shelter. That left only one option.

I had to find a tree to sleep in.

But could I climb one? All these trees seemed really tall, and there were no low-lying branches that I could use to climb up. I needed to find something quick, before someone or something found me.

As I cleared some bushes I saw the remains of someone's campsite. I'm pretty sure no one was here anymore. All the tents were ripped to shreds and I could see into every one of them. No one was here.

It was a sad sight. Yet I needed to look around. There might be stuff here I could use.

I looked into one of the tents. Looks like someone was going to set up a hammock when everything went down. I looked at the hooks. Still in good condition. The hammock also looked like it'll hold.

I grabbed the hammock, and a sleeping back and pillow. No sense freezing to death. It was then I noticed a picture. I took it and looked at it. It was a woman with a son. He looked kind of cute.

I shook my head. They're probably dead now. Or worse.

I took the stuff I found and made my way into the woods. I still needed to find somewhere high to get to. That'll make sleeping easier and safer.

Every rustle of the bushes had me on edge. I'm still expecting some half-rotten walker to come through and attack me. Thankfully that didn't happen. Still it didn't stop my heart from beating so hard I thought it would burst.

Then, finally, I found what I was looking for. There was a tree that had branches I could use to climb up, and where I could set this hammock up without fear of getting eaten in the night. It was like a miracle. What was a miracle again? Never mind. I'm sure this tree was like one.

Heading to the lowest branch I pulled myself up. I then proceeded to make my way to the higher branches. After climbing up a few branches I looked back down. I wasn't high enough to risk breaking a bone if I fell out, but I was higher than the walkers could reach. Now to hope they can't climb trees.

Setting the sleeping back and pillow on one branch I proceeded to get the hammock set up. I made sure to loop the hook through the hammock for good measure. Didn't want it to come undone while I was asleep. I did the same for the other hook. I stopped to admire my handiwork. It looks like it'll hold.

I grabbed the sleeping bag and pillow from where I left them. Then I precariously made my way into the hammock. It swung a bit and I was afraid I was going to fall. Quickly I moved into the hammock and held my breath as it moved. To my relief it didn't break.

Lying in my hammock was relaxing. I felt like I was on a cloud, watching the stars come out. Okay, I couldn't really because the rest of the tree was in my way. Still, I could make out some of them through the gaps.

Next thing I knew I was walking down what must've been a street. I say that because everything around me was so high-tech. There is no way it could've been connected to that town I was in. Yet what was weird was I felt like I had been here before. It was giving me a major sense of…what was that term again?

There was a group waiting near the crosswalk. When I got close enough to them, they smiled at me. I smiled back. I felt like they were the reason I was walking down this street.

Then expressions of fear replaced the joy. I noticed the sky was going dark and the wind was picking up. I turned behind me to see on what had to be the tallest building a dark shape was forming. As I watched, a pair of huge, glowing eyes appeared, followed by a roar so fearsome it was like all things unholy were cheering.

Then people began screaming and running as monsters began appearing in droves. I lost track of the people I was going to see. Somehow I found those eyes staring at me, and just one of those eyes was bigger than an RV I saw back in the town. What unverved me was that those eyes felt familiar too.

Like from a past nightmare.

The thing roared.

I sat up screaming. I had to grab the sides of the hammock to keep myself from falling out. I took deep breaths. It was just a nightmare, I realized. Just a bad dream.

Yet it felt so uncomfortably familiar.

There was rustling. I looked to see a few walkers had entered the clearing. Great. I laid still. I hardly dared breathe. How did those things find me?

Then it hit me. My scream! It must've been an alarm for a midnight snack. I took quick shallow breaths. Please don't look up. Please just move on.

There was a gunshot in the distance. The walkers turned and shambled off in the direction of the sound. I sighed in relief. I had to make sure I didn't get nightmares anymore.

I should probably sleep less too.

* * *

 **Well, what was that about the dream? You'll have to wait and see.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here's chapter 4. Enjoy.**

 **I do not own The Walking Dead.**

 **I own Clair Fay.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2**

* * *

Chapter 4

I've been walking for so long and all there is nothing but trees. Trees, trees, and, oh yeah, more trees. I almost get the feeling that I'm walking in a looping scenery. I'm also getting _really_ and I mean really hungry. Stopping for a moment to ponder what I was gonna eat - other than dirt - I spot a rabbit in the distance.

"Food..." I mumble, aiming my bow towards the little furry creature. Normally, I would hate to see a rabbit die but, I needed something in my stomach.

I let the arrow fly. My heart pained when I saw it hit the poor thing. Still, it'll mean food in my stomach. When I got to the kill I knelt down to retrieve my arrow from it.

"You know, I was just about to get that myself," an unknown voice said from somewhere. Jumping to my feet, I scanned the area and spotted a woman standing there. She had red hair and green eyes but what I noticed that seemed odd about her appearance, were the gloves she wore. Taking out my knife, I aimed it at the woman who had a rifle.

"Who are you?" I ask skeptically. The woman lowered her gun.

"The name's Emily." The woman, Emily replied simply. "You don't have to be cautious around me, I'm not gonna attack you." Now that I heard her speak a little more, she seemed have a southern accent mixed in a bit.

"That was what the last group told me. That was right before they tried to tie me up and feed me to walkers." I retorted bluntly. 'Why am I telling her this? What if she's with that Ursula woman?!' Though the mention of a group did catch her attention.

"A group? Who was in the group? How many?!" Emily questioned in a flurry. It was almost as though she was expecting me to say something she wanted to know.

"Just two men and two women. They're led by a woman called Ursula," as soon as I answered her question, her face fell and she sighed.

"Never mind. I thought you'd seen some people I knew." 'She doesn't know Ursula? Guess that's a good thing.'

She looked at the rabbit. "You're a good shot. I think my group could use someone like you."

"I don't know." I said. 'What if they're just as bad as Ursula? Should I really take that chance?'

Emily slowly approached me. "I understand how you feel right now. If you come with me it'll mean a roof over your head and a place to sleep at night. When was the last time you had a bed?"

I shrugged. "I don't remember. I spent last night sleeping in a tree."

"A tree?!" Emily looked at me like I said something ridiculous.

"I found a hammock and tied it up really high." I explained.

"Smart." Emily said. 'Why am I feeling calm now? Is she telling the truth?'

I bent down to pick up the rabbit. "What will the rest of your group think?"

"The usual. Some of them will insist that we leave you out here, but I know most of us will want to let you stay." Emily answered before holding out her hand. "All I ask is you try living with us. You might find you like it."

I sighed and sheathed my knife. It'll probably be better than spending another night in that hammock and tree. Slinging the rabbit over my shoulder, I shook her hand.

Since I made the kill, I was the one who had to carry the rabbit back to her group. I hardly noticed it because Emily and I passed the time talking. She was telling me all sorts of things about the walkers.

"Walkers are stupid and blind, so that comes in handy." She was saying. "However their hearing and smell are excellent. If they hear something they will head in that direction."

"I found that out yesterday." I told her. "When those people came into the store I was in they made so much noise it attracted the walkers to them."

Emily looked at me curiously. "How'd you get into that store?"

I shrugged. "I don't remember. This may sound strange, but I don't remember anything beyond yesterday."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Emily stopped. "You're telling me that you honestly do not remember anything beyond yesterday?"

"Yes." I said.

I found Emily staring hard at me, like she was trying to figure something out. It kind of made me feel uncomfortable. Did she know something I didn't? Considering how I don't remember anything I'd say that was a good possibility.

She finally shook her head. "Carlos will have to look at you because I can't figure it out."

I rose an eyebrow. "Carlos?"

"He's basically our group's doctor. If anyone can figure out what's wrong with you he can."

She then started walking again. I hurried to catch up with her. We didn't say anything for a few minutes. I guess Emily was thinking about…whoever she was looking for.

"Who are you looking for?" I asked. Emily gave me a look that said she was confused. "Earlier when you were questioning me you said you hoped I met people you knew. Are you looking for family?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah. My dad's somewhere out there."

"I hope you find him." I said.

After that we said nothing. I guess Emily just wanted to be with her thoughts, so I let her. I just hope that this group of hers turns out to be better than the last.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when we finally got to where her group was staying. It was a nice cabin way out in the woods. Why anyone would want to live here was beyond me. Then again, if it was this far from the walkers, then I wouldn't complain. I don't know why, but this place seemed to appeal to me.

A door opened. Out stepped a guy in a dark shirt with matching hair and a baseball cap. He too was carrying a rifle.

"Emily. It's about time you got back. We thought you'd…" his voice trailed off as he saw me. "What are you doing?"

"Nick, I found her in the woods. She brought us back some food." Emily explained. I held up the rabbit.

"How's one rabbit going to feed all of us?" Nick asked.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Nick, she shot that bunny from thirty paces away."

Nick looked at me. "With that bow and arrow?"

"Duh!" I deadpanned him.

By now other people were coming out of the cabin. They formed a semi-circle around us. For some reason I felt like my life depended on what they said here.

"Emily, we sent you out to get food, not more mouths to feed!" A woman with dark skin and a big belly said.

"Rebecca…" Emily began.

"She did bring us something to eat." A man with a similar skin tone and glasses said.

Rebecca glared at him. "One rabbit's not enough for all of us, Alvin."

I just met her and already I didn't like her.

"Calm down Rebecca." A man said. I noticed he had a Spanish accent.

Rebecca glared at me. "Where do you come from?"

"I don't know." I said.

She turned to the others. "See? She's not telling us something. She's probably with Carver!"

"With who?"

"Don't play dumb with us! He probably sent you to spy on us and figure out where we are! That's it, isn't it?"

"I never heard of anyone named Carver." My head was starting to pound. I was trying to think of where I had been, but my brain was really hurting from the effort.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Rebecca, chill out!" Emily snapped at her.

Rebecca glared at her. "I won't chill out until I get the truth from this girl—"

The pain! Too much! Their arguing and trying to make me remember was making my skull feel like it was splitting open! Clutching my head I screamed as loud as I could. That was the last thing I remembered before passing out.

* * *

Emily's POV

I couldn't believe that Carlos was taking this long to figure out what had set the girl off like that. The reaction she had from our questioning … it just didn't seem right. I had quickly checked her for bites, but there weren't any.

So why'd she go off like that.

Luke was looking at me rather nervously. In the last half-hour he, Nick, and Pete had put down five walkers that had come close to the cabin. Luke was always the easiest to get along with, but he wanted to know what caused the girl to scream like that. We had to make sure it would not happen again. Next time she might attract a herd.

I found my attention wandering to the weapons we found on the girl. She had been armed with a tomahawk, a knife, a bow, and a quiver full of arrows. I thought they seemed a little silly, but they were probably effective. No noise to attract walkers. I kind of envied her for being smart like that.

I picked up her bow. It felt like it was made from a yew tree. It also looked like it had seen its share of hard times. Maybe she went through something traumatic …

I noticed some carvings near the bottom. Turning the bow over, I saw two words carved into the wood:

Clair Fay

Clair Fay? Was that her name? Her surname made me think of Morgana le Fay. I decided not to ask her about it though. I saw her looking at my gloves earlier, but she didn't ask about them. Fair's fair.

Finally the door opened and Carlos stepped out. He seemed perplexed and bewildered, like he found out something about her that didn't make sense.

I put the bow down. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Carlos just shook his head. "From what I was able to find out, it seems that the girl's suffering from memory loss. But I've never seen amnesia on a scale like this."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"She can't remember anything. Her parents. Her hometown. It's like her entire past has been erased from her mind."

Luke sighed. "So we'll never know who she is or where she came from? Rebecca's not going to like this."

"I think I may have found her name." I spoke up. Picking up the bow again, I showed them the name that was carved into it.

"Clair Fay? Her name's Clair Fay?" Luke asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know for certain, but it could be the only way we'll know for sure."

Carlos nodded. "For now, let her rest. When she wakes up we'll ask her about the name. But don't press her. We don't need her to have another episode like this one."

* * *

 **OH my. Why did that happen? You'll have to stay tuned.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Trying to catch up on posting all the old chapters.**

 **I don't own The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2**

* * *

Chapter 5

Clair's POV

I woke up to a splitting headache. It took me a few seconds to remember what happened. That woman kept asking me questions and I tried to answer…but then everything went black. I guess I must've passed out.

The door to my roomed opened and a girl who looked to be around twelve or thirteen entered. She had glasses on and a sweater. She looked like she was Hispanic.

She seemed surprised to see me awake. "Oh. You're up." She also had a Spanish accent. "Daddy said to not disturb you."

"It's fine." I said while rubbing my head. "I just wish I knew what happened."

"You passed out. Dad says you have some sort of amnesia." The girl said.

"Amnesia?"

"Dad says it's when you can't remember anything."

"Your dad's a doctor?"

The girl nodded. "I'm Sarah." Sarah held out her hand.

I shook it. "Clair."

"So it is Clair. I heard Nick and Luke asking about whether or not that could be your name or not. We found it carved on your bow." Sarah explained.

I moved to get out of bed. Sarah shook her head. "Daddy says you need to stay in bed."

"I feel fine." I said. "I haven't forgotten how to walk."

"At least wait until Daddy gets back." Sarah requested. "He went out to find some more medical supplies with Alvin and Pete."

I sighed. I didn't want this girl to feel bad, so I stayed in the bed. It was then I noticed she had something in her hands. "What's that you got?"

Sarah looked at it. "Oh. It's a book. Daddy likes it when I read."

"What's it called?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Just a collection of fairy tales. You know, like Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty."

I had no idea what she was talking about, and yet…those sounded very familiar. I was sure I heard of them before. I shook my head. Better not think about it. Don't want to pass out again.

Sarah held it out to me. "Would you like to read it?"

I nodded. "I could read some of them to you."

She seemed to brighten up. "You sure?"

I nodded. "Consider it a test to see what I can do."

Sarah sat on the bed next to me. "Would you start with Rapunzel?"

* * *

Some time later Sarah and I were still reading out of the book. There were times where I was having trouble, but Sarah was there to help me out. I found myself enjoying the ideas of faraway kingdoms, magic spells, princes and princess, etc. However something about those stories seemed…off. I can't explain why. It just felt like these stories were wrong somehow.

We were reading about The Little Mermaid when we heard a door open. "Sarah?" The Spanish voice called out.

"I'm in here, Daddy!" Sarah called out. Soon the man with a beard and a strange shirt entered the room. I recognized him from when I first came here. He seemed surprised that Sarah was with me.

"Sarah, what are you doing?" He asked.

"I was reading with Clair." Sarah explained. "Testing her to see if she could. She passes."

Sarah's father shook his head. "Sarah, you didn't have to do that."

"Sir, it was my idea. If anyone's to blame it's me." I said.

Sarah shook her head. "No. I was the one who walked in on her."

"That's enough Sarah." The man said. "I need to speak with Clair alone."

Sarah seemed sad at having to leave. She looked like she wanted to stay and keep reading. However she just nodded and left the room. The man then turned to me.

"Well, you've met my daughter." He said.

I nodded. "She's a good girl. If she hadn't come by when she did I might've walked off."

"Then it was a good thing she was here." He said with a smile. "I wish she found someone else to read her book with, but if she kept you from doing anything then I can't be angry with her."

"She really enjoyed it, sir."

"It's Carlos."

"So, Carlos, can I get out of bed now?"

Carlos nodded. "I think you've been cooped up long enough."

I got out of the bed finally. Carlos had me walk around for a bit before I went into the kitchen. There were a lot more people there than I saw yesterday. Emily, Nick, Alvin, and Rebecca were all there as well as some other people I didn't recognize. One was a bald man with glasses. There was also a woman with dark hair. The last was someone close to Nick's age with an orange sweater and brown hair.

"You're still here?" Rebecca asked. I shook my head in disbelief.

"It's all right Rebecca." The man said. "I don't think she means us harm."

"Alvin, she could be with Carver."

"Rebecca we've been through this already." The woman said. "Given her reaction last night and what Emily told us I don't think she even knows who Carver is."

I nodded. "I have no idea who Carver is."

Carlos looked at me. "William Carver is a dangerous man. He runs a community, but we had to leave."

"We're afraid he'll find out where we are and come looking for us." Alvin added.

"Who'd be crazy enough to go searching out there when there's zillions of mindless people-eating corpses out there?" I asked.

The guy with brown hair looked at me. "Carver would."

"The man's an…" Nick called the man something I will not repeat.

"Nick." The woman said.

The bald man looked at her. "Marie, he has every right to be angry."

"But being angry isn't going to help us decide what to do with Clair." Emily pointed out. I noticed she didn't seem to like how they were all talking about Carver.

"Emily's right." Carlos said. "The matter we have to deal with right now is what to do with Clair."

Rebecca had her solution. "Toss her out."

"And go where?" I asked.

"Away from us."

"Look, I know you don't like me, but that doesn't mean I'm not useful." I said.

Emily nodded. "I saw her hunting skills up close and personal."

Carlos looked at the guy with the orange shirt. "What do you think Luke?"

Luke looked at him. "Well, most of us haven't seen her skills. Maybe we should test her out and see how she does."

"And if she turns out to be a spy for Carver?" Rebecca asked. Will she ever drop it?

"Then we put her down for good." Nick replied.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I said sarcastically.

Emily looked at me. "Are you willing to let us test you and see how good you are?"

I nodded. "If it'll rest all doubts regarding me."

"Don't bet on it." Rebecca said.

"All in favor of testing her?" Pete asked. Luke, Carlos, Alvin, Marie, Emily, and Nick raised their hands. I sighed. Maybe I'll have a chance to survive here after all.

* * *

 **Well, she's made a friend in Sarah. All's going okay for now, but if there's one thing you can count on for the Walking Dead universe it's that nothing good lasts forever.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Let's see what they have in store for Clair, shall we?**

 **I don't own the Walking Dead or its characters.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2**

* * *

Chapter 6

Well, Pete managed to set up a little obstacle course for me. They used some old bottles, pieces of cardboard, and other stuff lying around to use for targets. I checked to make sure I had enough arrows in my quiver.

"This is too simple." Rebecca scoffed.

"This is the best I can do under the circumstances." Luke said.

"She just needs to shoot the targets." Emily said. "In just a few minutes."

"And some of the targets are tiny… " Alvin started to say, but then he noticed the look on Rebecca's face. "Yeah, you're right. Too easy."

"So why don't you just make them moving targets?" I asked.

Rebecca glared at me. "So you can shoot someone? No thanks."

I sighed. I pulled an arrow out and aimed it at the furthest target. I was supposed to save it for last, but why start out on the easiest level. I let the arrow fly. I saw it embed itself in the target.

I didn't stop there. I pulled out another arrow and fired it at another target. Another hit. I started to move around, trying to make this as difficult as possible. Walking and aiming made it hard to fire, but I would not stop. I wasn't going to let this stop me.

Soon, I began firing two arrows, then three. Gripping more was harder, but somehow I managed to pull it off. I wish I knew how I learned to do that. Maybe someday I'll remember.

Finally I hit the last target. Nick checked his watch. "She did it in one minute, thirty seconds."

Pete whistled. "You work fast."

Luke checked the targets. "She hit them in the center."

"All of them?" Emily asked.

"All of them."

Now they stared at me with wonder. Did I mess up somehow? Did I blow my chance with them?

"Well, I don't know about you, but I think it would be a good idea to keep her around." Pete said.

Rebecca looked at him. "Pete…"

"Listen. She's got some skills with her bow and arrow. Skills we could use. Like Emily said, she's a good hunter, and if we encounter walkers we'll need someone who can hit what she was aiming at."

I then heard something. It sounded like footsteps, but shuffling. And that smell… oh no.

"Incoming!" I said as I pulled out the closest arrow and fired it into the forest. I heard some snarling as walkers started to emerge. I reached for my knife and tomahawk as I backed away from the walkers.

Nick aimed his rifle and shot. He hit a female walker in the head. It went down, but another took its place.

"Nick!" Pete said. "We can't waste the ammunition!"

I buried my knife and tomahawk in the heads of two walkers. I wretched them free to knock back two walkers that were coming in. Luke ran to one and buried his machete in its head.

I ran up a tree, and kicked off it, leaping over several walkers and landing on the shoulders of one. I buried my knife in its skull before it could react. I then jumped off it, and as I landed kicked the feet out from underneath a few. I took turns burying my knife and tomahawk in their skulls.

As I pulled my tomahawk out of the last one I looked around. All the walkers that had come here had been taken care of. Now my body felt exhausted from the fight. I looked at the others, and was surprised to see them staring at me with shock.

"Well, now I'm convinced she needs to stay." Nick said.

Rebecca was also shocked. "How did you do that?"

I looked at the carnage. "I-I don't know."

* * *

Later I was wiping my weapons off on the clothes of the walkers. I didn't want their blood mixing with what I was going to be hunting and eating later. Still, I couldn't believe I was able to fight them off like that. I had to have been trained by someone. But who? And why?

"Now I'm glad I found you." I heard Emily say. I looked up to see her walking towards me. "I was impressed before but what you did just now… wow."

I looked shyly away. "I don't know how I did it. It just felt… natural. Like I've been doing it for a while."

"Well, we need people who can fight like you." Emily said. "As you can see, we all need to fight to stay alive, but you've got some skills."

"I just wish I knew how I could do those things." I sheathed my knife.

"I'm sure the answer will come to you." Emily told me. She looked at her gloves. "You're probably wondering why I wear these."

I shook my head. "You've got your sense of fashion and I've got mine."

Emily looked at me. "You think it's my idea of fashion?"

"Well everyone's entitled to wear what they feel comfortable with." I told her. She looked away. Why do I get the feeling she's hiding something?

"You remember when I asked you about the people you met?" She asked.

I nodded. "Why?"

"Well… I'm looking for someone. My dad. He and I got separated a while ago, and… I've been trying to find him ever since." She told me.

"Would you like my help finding him?" I asked.

She nodded. "That would be good."

"You gave me a place to call home." I said. "Besides, friends help friends."

"You really think we're friends?" Emily asked me.

I shrugged. "What else would we be?"

The next morning, I was awakened to Luke and Nick shaking me away. "Come on. We're going hunting."

I looked out the window. The sky was barely lit. I rolled back over. "I'm still sleepy."

"We decided last night that you'd help us on our first hunting trip." Nick said. "Come on. We're losing daylight."

I groaned in response.

We were moving through the forest later that morning. I could see the sun was starting to light up the sky but still hadn't shown up. I just wanted to go back to my pillow and sleep.

"So, what you did yesterday." Luke said. "That was really impressive."

"I don't know how I can do that." I said again.

Luke held his hands up. "I know. I'm just saying that was really awesome."

"Hey." Nick said. "Keep an eye out. We don't know who or what's going to be out here."

"Is he always like this?" I asked Luke.

Luke looked at me. "You have no idea. He still wanted us to take his girlfriend from our old camp."

"Hey! That's enough!" Nick snapped.

"Why didn't she come with you?" I asked.

Luke shrugged. "Dunno."

"Shut up." Nick growled. He also said some words that I had a feeling would not be good to repeat. I noticed something on the ground. I stooped down and looked at it.

"Deer tracks." I said. "Look to be ten, fifteen minutes ahead of us."

Luke seemed to smile. "That'll make a good meal for tonight."

I had no idea that things were about to get worse for us.

* * *

 **Now who could Emily's father be? Any thoughts?**


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the Walking Dead.**

 **Emily belongs to Hidden Truth and Lies 2.**

* * *

Chapter 7

EMILY'S POV

I was getting ready to head outside when I heard Sarah scream. I ran up to her room and opened the door. She was sitting up in bed, panting heavily.

"What happened?" I asked. I had a pretty good idea, but somehow it felt more comforting to let her say it.

Sarah looked at me. "I had a nightmare."

I sat on the end of her bed. "You wanna tell me about it?"

Sarah looked down. "I saw a field. There were these... swords buried in the ground. Except they looked more like giant keys."

"Keys?" That sounded familiar.

"I felt like I was in a graveyard. Then I saw these monsters come out of the shadows. They were dark and had these big yellow eyes." Sarah shuddered. "I-I also saw people fighting them. Clair was one of them."

"Clair?" I asked.

She nodded. "She was... so fierce. Like yesterday, with the walkers. Then... there was this… thing, this… thing. Like a person."

"Is that what woke you up?"

"No. What it said. The darkness will consume all."

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

There it was. I could see the deer grazing just ahead of us. It was a beautiful young doe. I felt a little bad for it, but we needed the food. If the others were willing I could try to sew new clothes from the skin. Maybe not a good idea.

Nick raised his rifle. I grabbed it and yanked it down. "No. The shot will attract walkers."

He glared at me. "You hunt your way, and I hunt my way."

"Someone get it before it leaves!" Luke told us. I readied an arrow and pulled the bowstring back. The deer was starting to walk off. I fired the arrow just as Nick fired his rifle. The gunshot spooked the deer, causing it to leap away. My arrow embedded itself in the ground while the doe ran off.

Nick swore. At least I'm sure that was a swear word. I glared at him as I retrieved my arrow.

"What were you thinking?" Luke asked Nick.

"I was thinking I was going to get us enough food." Nick snapped at him.

"By attracting every walker around for miles?"

"We can handle them."

"Not an entire herd."

I walked over to where the deer had run off and began inspecting the area. I could still see the tracks in the ground, and something else caught my attention. Some of the plants had blood on their leaves. Maybe Nick's bullet hit it. That'll make tracking it easier.

I headed back to Nick and Luke, who were still arguing. "Nick's shot hit the deer. It's bleeding out, and we can follow it." That got their attention. Good.

"Really?" Luke asked. I nodded. Nick just smiled smugly. I turned and began following the trail. I heard Nick and Luke walking behind me. Now let's hope we weren't heading towards any walkers.

The trail seemed straight enough. The drops of blood were easy to follow. I kept checking for signs of walkers. None. They probably didn't come through this area for a while.

"Well, how far ahead?" Nick asked me.

I looked at him. "It couldn't have gotten far. It might be resting somewhere."

"Well let's find it and get back to the others." Luke said. We continued following the trail. I then heard something up ahead. I motioned for them to stop and peeked through some bushes. There was the doe, but a walker was eating it.

I punched the ground.

I looked back at the others. "Walker." I whispered. Nick raised his rifle and before Luke and I could say anything shot the walker in the head. It fell over dead.

"Nick!" Luke said.

"What? That thing ruined our dinner." Nick said.

I walked over to the deer. To my shock the poor thing was still breathing. The walker was eating it alive?! What kind of monsters are they? The doe looked at me. It was… sad. Almost like… it was pleading with me.

I knelt down to it. "I'm sorry this had to happen to you. I know I was hunting you, but we needed food. We wouldn't have tortured you like this. I won't let you suffer anymore." With that I took my knife and embedded it in the deer's head. It stopped breathing.

I stood and wiped my knife on my jeans. I noticed Nick and Luke staring at me. "Why were you talking to that deer?"

I sheathed my knife. "It just seemed right. I know it couldn't understand me, but, for some reason, I just felt better talking to it."

"It's just an animal." Nick said.

"Are we so different?" I asked him. "I saw it in that doe's eyes. She was scared. She was trying to survive just as we are."

"Oh Clair. You are so sweet it's disgusting." A voice said. We looked around. I felt a chill, and it wasn't from the wind or the temperature. It felt more like…. Something evil was near. "Over here."

We turned to see a guy standing there. He was dressed in jeans with combat boots on and a black shirt with some creepy symbol on it. His face looked calm, but still scary. Like there was a monster hiding behind his green eyes. His red hair almost seemed like… blood, or fire.

"Clair, you know this guy?" Luke asked me. I shook my head.

"Oh, Clair, surely you remember." The guy said.

I held my head. "I've never seen you before. I don't even know what you're talking about."

Nick held up his rifle. "Tell us who you are and what you're talking about." He also said some swear words, but I don't swear, so I'm not going to repeat what he said.

The guy smiled. "Good. Swear. It feeds me."

"Feeds you? What are you talking about?" Luke asked. He also swore.

The guy looked at him. "You ignorant men. You think that all there is to life is surviving the walking dead. You honestly do not know what other things lurk in the dark. Things that are about to come forth. This world has lost so much of its light. Soon it will be ready."

"Ready for what?" I asked. The guy looked at me. I was certain he was gaining a certain pleasure from this.

"You really have forgotten." The guy smiled like a predator that had cornered its prey. "This will make things simple. I could kill you right now, but I think it will be more worthwhile to torture you."

Nick held up his rifle while Luke drew his machete. "You're not touching a hair on her head."

The guy smiled. "I will. I will make everyone she's met in this world, everyone she cares about, I will make them suffer. Twist them. Make the walkers seem like model citizens of society."

"Leave them alone!" I said as I put an arrow to my bow. I was not going to let this… person hurt anyone!

He laughed at me. "An arrow. You expect to hurt me with a pointed stick?" A gunshot echoed through the woods as a bullet hole appeared in his head. I turned to see Nick had fired at the man.

Nick's eyes widened as he staggered back. He and Luke swore. I turned to see the hole in the guy's head closing! He laughed as he wiped away his blood. .

"Was that the best you've got? Let me show you mine." With a wave of his hand the shadows around us began moving. To my horror the shadows took the shape of these creatures. They were all black with antenna on their heads. Their eyes were bright yellow, almost glowing. I clutched my head. They definitely seemed familiar… my nightmare! They were in it!

"Heartless. Rip the hearts out of her friends." The guy said. The things, the Heartless, they charged forward. Nick fired again, but that didn't do anything. Luke slashed with his machete, but that didn't hurt them either! When I fired an arrow it just went through them!

"What are these things?" Nick asked, while swearing. I don't know, but I don't think we should stick around.

"Run!" I told them.


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the Walking Dead.**

 **Emily belongs to Hidden Truth and Lies 2.**

* * *

Chapter 8

We ran through the forest. I don't know why our weapons wouldn't affect that… that thing, but it couldn't be good. Seeing it was causing a really loud bell to ring in my head. Did I see it before? That guy seems to know me.

"Just who is that creep back there?" Nick asked me. Well that was the nicest way of putting his sentence.

"I have no idea!" I said.

"He seems to know you. And those things? What is going on?" Again, swear words omitted.

"I don't know!" I snapped at him. "I would've told you if I had a clue!"

"Look out!" Luke cried out. I stopped just in the nick of time. I had almost run into a walker. However it had seen me. Snarling it reached out to grab me. I used my bow to keep it back. Nick aimed his rifle and shot it in the head.

"Thanks." I told him before I noticed other walkers coming towards us. One was coming in a direction that would surely make it collide with the Heartless. Hopefully they'll take each other out.

To my horror the walker and the Heartless completely ignored each other. It was like neither acknowledged the other's existence.

Nick swore. I looked at him. "I don't think that's a good thing."

"No kidding." He said. He aimed his rifle and shot the walker in the head. The Heartless came racing towards us. I kicked one away before we resumed running. I used my tomahawk to kill a walker that was coming towards me.

"We can't run forever." Luke said.

"What can we do?" Nick asked. "These things aren't affected by our weapons."

"We have to keep them from getting to the others." I said. "Who knows what they'll do?"

"What do you suggest?" Nick asked, although I omitted his profanity.

"I don't know." I admitted. "But I do know is we can't let the others get hurt." I stopped and turned around. "I'm going to keep them safe, even if it kills me."

The walkers kept coming towards me. I aimed an arrow at the head of one and shot it. I pulled another and repeated myself. I shot about four of them when the rest stopped walking. They all looked in the direction we came. The guy, if he was a guy, came up. The walkers backed off, almost as if… they respected him.

The guy looked at them. "Fascinating, these walkers. Once they were people, and now they're nothing more than the monsters that plague humanity's nightmares."

"Why aren't they attacking you?" Luke asked, swearing omitted.

The guy smiled. "They know better than to do that. They also know that my wish is their command." Looking at them, the man ordered, "Destroy her friends and the group at the cabin. Leave the girl to the Heartless."

Nick pointed his rifle and began shooting the walkers. Luke also began using his machete as a sword. I aimed an arrow to help them, but I was tackled to the ground. Rolling over I saw a Heartless scratching at me. I kicked it in the head, trying to dislodge it. It just kept clawing at me, so I kicked it again. Again, same result. I gritted my teeth and put all my power into the next kick. That finally dislodged it.

I scrambled to my feet and looked around. Luke was trying to dislodge his machete from a walker's skull. Nick had run out of ammo and was using his rifle as a club. The walkers had almost been taken care of, but the Heartless were still coming.

One knocked me to the ground. Before I could do anything it plunged its hand into my chest. I screamed in pain as I felt it wrap around my heart.

"Yes. Consume her heart." The man ordered. "Make her a servant of the darkness. Then use her to destroy those she cares about."

As the thing held my heart images flashed into my head. I saw the people from my dream. Sometimes we were smiling and laughing. Other times we were scowling at each other, and a couple of times I saw us fighting. Who are these people? Why do I keep seeing them? Yet I just knew that I cared about them, and that they cared about me too. I thought about Sarah, about Emily. My friends.

Something surged inside of me. My body screamed in pain as it came forth like a flash flood. Soon I was screaming as it burst forth. I can't describe it, but it was bright. Very bright. The Heartless that was trying to steal my heart was blasted off me and disappeared. I saw the same thing happen to the other Heartless. I saw the man snarling in pain as I blacked out.

* * *

"Doc, I'm telling you, that's what happened."

"Nick, do you have any idea how crazy that is?"

"But it's true. I was there. I saw it with my own eyes."

"It's bad enough we got lurkers around. Now there are these shadow demon things trying to kill us too?"

"That guy was only interested in Clair."

"You're saying they know each other."

"He seemed to know her."

I groaned as I sat up. My body felt weak, like I had gone through a difficult workout on an empty stomach. I held my head as a dizzy feeling came on, and nausea filled my stomach. I opened my eyes to see Sarah and Emily next to me.

"You're okay!" Sarah said as she hugged me. I hugged her back.

"You're awake." Rebecca said. "Now will you tell us what went on out there?" I left out her swear words.

I coughed. "We were… tracking a deer. A walker got it first. We then ran into this man. He said things… that made no sense."

"Luke says you were attacked by something else." Carlos said.

I nodded. "The man… he called them Heartless. They… they tried to take my heart."

"Literally or figuratively?" Sarah asked.

"Literally." Emily gasped at my answer.

"That's crazy." Marie said.

"Crazy is what we live with," Emily said as she looked at me, "But this… this makes the walkers seem normal."

"Did he say what his name was?" Pete asked me. I shook my head.

"He just went on about how she was gonna die, and something about darkness." Luke's explanation earned a gasp from Sarah.

"My dream." Sarah said.

Carlos looked at her. "Sweetie…"

"No. I had a dream last night." Sarah said. "I saw a place with a bunch of giant keys sticking in the ground. The place looked just like a graveyard. Clair was there."

I looked at her. "What?"

"Yeah. She was fighting a bunch of monsters there."

Nick looked at her. "Did they have big yellow eyes? And antenna?"

"Yes! Yes, that's what I saw!" Sarah said with excitement.

Could it… could it be true? Was this part of my past? But why can't I remember it? Did that guy have something to do with my amnesia?

"Bad enough we got Carver looking for us. Now there are monsters out there that our weapons can't handle." Alvin said.

"But what about what Clair did? She did something that made those things go away." Luke said.

I shook my head. "I don't know what I did. I don't even know how I did it." Emily put a hand on my shoulder.

"Well we'll have to keep a lookout. For now, I say we should all get some rest." Pete suggested.

* * *

I looked up at the ceiling later that night. What a day. I couldn't believe the things that had happened. It's like I did something in my past, and now someone wants revenge. Was I a bad person? Did I do something awful against him?

I sat up and looked out the window. He was still out there somewhere. Probably plotting revenge. And everyone in this cabin, they were in danger because of me. If anything happened to them, I couldn't live with myself.

So I won't let anything happen to them.

I got up from the couch and put on my boots. I still had plenty of arrows in my quiver, and my tomahawk and knife will be all the ammunition I need. I could find food later. Everyone here needed what there was.

"What are you doing?" I looked to see Sarah coming down the stairs. "Are you going somewhere?"

I nodded. "That man wants me for some reason, and as long as I am here you're in danger."

"You're leaving us?" Sarah's face was sad. "Please, don't go."

"I have to. That man isn't messing around. He will hurt all of you to get to me, probably even kill you. Or worse." I put my hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't live with that."

"But what if something happens to you?" Sarah said. "It's too dangerous to be out there on your own."

"Then we'll have to hope that I make it." I said. "The answers to my past are somewhere out there, and I need to know why he's after me. Would you be able to live with yourself if you couldn't remember anything, and someone was after you?"

Sarah looked down at the ground. "Okay." She still didn't sound convinced. "At least let me give you something." She hurried back upstairs. I waited for a few minutes, then she came back down with that fairy tale book. "Take this with you. That way you can remember me."

I put my hand on her shoulder. "I will always remember you." That brought a smile to her face. She still held the book out to me, so I took it. She seemed glad that I did. "Lock the door behind me." With that I headed to the door, unlocked it, and opened it.

I really didn't want to walk out into the woods at night, but the others might try to stop me. I'll just have to hope that I don't run into any walkers. I headed to the woods, but stopped to look back. Sarah stood at the door, waving at me. Her face made me want to stay, but I just know I can't. I waved back at her before she closed the door. Once I was sure she locked it I turned and entered the forest.


	9. Chapter 9

**Time to continue.**

 **I don't own The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **? belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

* * *

Chapter 9

Clair's POV

Seven days later…

I had been on the road and I hadn't seen any sign of that guy. If he was a guy. Strangely I hadn't seen any of the Heartless either. I did have a few encounters with walkers, or lurkers, or whatever. Couldn't people decide on a single name for them?

I kept looking around me. I didn't want to get ambushed by one of the dead. I really hated being out here alone, but I couldn't ask anyone back at the cabin to come with me. After what happened with Luke and Nick I didn't want to risk any of them being hurt by that dude. He didn't seem like the type to make empty threats. Hopefully being out here will keep him away from the others.

A walker came crawling up to me. I stabbed it in the head and kicked it away. I was really getting tired and sick of these things. I wished for someplace safe, but I pushed it out of my head. Until I knew who or what that man is and why he's after me everyone will be in danger. I had to go alone.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" I screamed as the ground suddenly gave way beneath me. I don't know how, but I was able to land on my feet. I looked up to see a bunch of men standing over the pit looking at me. I had a bad feeling about these guys.

"We got a live one!" One of them, a guy with a mop of a hairstyle, said to his buddies.

They laughed. "Damien will be pleased."

"Who are you? What do you want?" I asked them. I ended up getting hit in the face by the end of a rifle for that.

"Shut up." The person who hit me said. "What have you got?"

"We'll find out when Damien's done with her." The guy who had first spoken said.

I tried to say more, but something hard hit my head.

* * *

I woke up with a throbbing pain on the side of my head. I held it as I sat up groaning. I then realized I didn't have my weapons. My bow, my arrows, my tomahawk, and my knife were all gone! Those thieves must've taken them!

I then realized I was in some sort of room. The walls were bare, and a bad smell, like someone forgot to take out their garbage. I gagged at the smell.

A door opened in the roof, and I saw the people who had approached me in the whole had come back.

"She's awake." One of them said.

"Damien wants to see you." Another told me. I spat at them. I had no desire to see this Damien. The looks on their faces suggested no was not an answer.

A ladder was lowered, as was the barrel of a rifle. "Try anything and you'll be joining the security." I failed to see how that was bad, but if that was the consequence for disobedience, it must be bad. May as well play along, just so I could find out what they wanted, and how I could escape.

I just knew I didn't like any of these people.

I climbed up the ladder, and realized I had been kept in a truck of sorts. It had gotten stuck in a ditch. There was a big fence around the area, and makeshift buildings. There were also poles on the outside, and tied to them were…walkers!

"What is this place?" I asked. I was hit on the cheek for that.

"Save your breath." They said. I was then pushed towards this building that looked as if to belong to a leader. Still looked like a bunch of boards thrown together with a tarp thrown over it. I assumed it belonged to their leader because there were walker heads on the ends of makeshift pikes outside. The heads snarled and snapped at us, but we were out of reach.

I was forced inside. Inside was this man who had a handsome quality to him. True he was unshaven, but he looked as if he washed his face. He was also buff. However I didn't like him. I looked at his eyes and I saw his heart was dark and corrupt. I also saw a sign of something… madness? How did I know? And why was that look so familiar to me?

"So you're the new girl?" The guy said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Damien."

"I figured that out when your goons forced me here." I said.

He looked at me. "I must apologize for them. We live in hard times, and certain measures need to be taken to ensure our survival."

I shook my head. I felt like he was trying to win me over with some charm of his. It was making me sick.

"You're lucky we found you when we did. Who knows what you might've run into out there. I'm not talking about the lurkers. They're easy enough to handle. Give them brain trauma and they stay dead. No, I'm talking about the living. There are scavengers, cannibals, and gangs running amok out there. You must've met some."

"So what if I did?" I was sure he was someone I should've avoided.

He flashed a smile at me. "Well you don't have to worry. I'm sure you've seen our security. Anyone comes by, the lurkers get 'em. The smell also keeps other lurkers away."

"It's still risky." I said. "What if they bite one of your own?"

He smiled. "They join 'em. Simple as that." He rubbed a hand along my face. "You're quite beaut-"

I bit his hand. He growled and pulled his hand away. That felt good. As I expected, he punched me and knocked me back. I still don't regret what I did to him.

"Boys!" He called out. "Take this…" I can't find a good substitute for what he called me, "back to the truck. Keep her there. Starve her until she learns to obey!"

I looked at him. "If you knew what's good for you you'll let me go. Someone is after me, and they do not mess around."

Damien scoffed. "I fear no one. I can handle this person."

* * *

?'s POV

I dreamt I was walking through the woods. I could see dead bodies everywhere, all with holes in their heads. My heart felt so heavy as I sighed. Why did this have to happen? Why did so many have to die, or become those... things?

I saw other people walking. I didn't recognize any of them. They all looked confused and unsure, like they didn't know how they got here. Come to think of it, these woods didn't look familiar to me either. This wasn't anywhere near Carver's camp.

The sky went dark. I looked up to see the sun had been blocked. I thought it was a cloud at first, but it grew. It also turned black, like a thunderstorm. Yet I had this bad feeling that this was no storm.

A shadow moved. We all saw it. I could hear the people talking, but I couldn't catch what they were saying. To my horror the shadow in front of me grew. It also changed shape into this creature with antenna and big yellow eyes. It lunged at me. I swore. The creature lunged at me and I ducked. I saw the others being attacked too. More of them were manifesting out of the darkness. It was almost like they were darkness. What are these things? I looked around at the shadows. I could see other people being attacked by those things. Each time they attacked someone a crystal shaped like a heart came from someone's chest before the things... did they eat them? Then the people changed into those things. What is going on here?

I pulled out my gun and began shooting them. Several of the other people did too. I knew I wasn't missing, but these things...I'm going to assume they're called Heartless, didn't slow down. On my next shot, I realized the bullets were just passing through them! What the heck? I saw the people who had been attacked and turned changing. They became white, and not in the caucasian sense. White as paper. White as snow. White as salt. They had this emblem on their faces, but I don't know what to compare it to. They began to walk, or float around. They were incredibly flexible. They also attacked us. They just weaved themselves around our weapons. I tried to run but these white things...Nobodies, I think the song called them, wrapped themselves around me. I couldn't feel a pulse from them. This is really starting to freak me out.

No, this is.

I saw a bunch of different assortment of these Heartless creatures doing some weird dance number. They kept jumping from shadows, and diving back into them. They juggled with hearts like they were balls or torches, before consuming them. They even danced with weird Nobodies. The Nobodies began doing some crazy acrobatics. I'm pretty sure not even the most flexible person in existence could do what they're doing. Seriously, somersaults, cartwheels, triples flips all rolled into one? My back hurt just watching them.

This massive Heartless then appeared. It was like some huge army vehicle merged with those... what were those big stomping things from _The Empire Strikes Back_? Never mind. Point is, from its side several more Heartless were ejected. They ranged from big, hulking muscle buffs to small simple foot soldiers. I don't know how I saw a bunch of cities and communities, but I saw the Heartless and Nobodies pouring in to them, stealing the hearts from survivors and changing them into...well, more of them. The walkers completely ignored these things, like they weren't interesting in them or they weren't appetizing. I tried to lure a walker into a trap with some cold turkey that was no longer cold, but it didn't work. I saw every Heartless and Nobody turn it's attention to this one girl. I never saw her before, but she seemed shocked and scared. To my surprise the Heartless and Nobodies ran towards her, preparing to attack.

"Clair!" I heard a couple of voices call out. I turned to see one of the groups of people had members racing towards her. One was a little hispanic girl with glasses, the other was someone closer to my age, maybe a couple years older. She had gloves on her hands. It was clear they weren't going to get to her in time.

The Heartless and Nobodies swarmed over that girl...Clair. It didn't look good. Then, a light shone forth from underneath. It blasted the Heartless and Nobodies off her. She stood up glowing. She looked at herself shocked, like she didn't know what was happening to her. In her hand appeared...a giant key? What on Earth?

The Heartless and Nobodies shrank back from her like they were afraid of that weapon. Clair then rushed forward, slicing through the Heartless and Nobodies like a hot knife through butter. Light shone forth from her key, eliminating all the Heartless. It grew too bright, and I ended up covering my eyes. I then heard a voice speaking. This voice was full of compassion, and power. True power.

"Find each other. Save the world."

I then woke up gasping for breath. I panted heavily. That was some really weird dream. But yet...it felt like more. But that was impossible. Things were crazy enough without shadow monsters attacking. Yet the words I heard at the end, they filled me with comfort. I felt better than I had in a long time just thinking about them. I have no idea why, but I was eager to get back on the road.

* * *

 **Stay tuned for more.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I don't own The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay, Damien, and the compound are mine.**

 **? belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace**

* * *

Chapter 10

?'s POV

I walked through the forest, pushing some twigs out of my way as I did. That girl from my dream... who was she? That dream felt so real... but... what did that voice mean...? What was that key thing she had? Why were those things attacking those people in my dream?

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I felt my foot slip. I realized that I had tripped on a log that was right by a hill. Aw crap...

Before I could stop myself, I fell forward and started tumbling down the hill, swearing as I did. "Ow! Ow! Mother-! Ow!" I exclaimed each time I bounced. I should really pay attention next time.

I reached the bottom of the hill with a very sore back and throbbing hip. I laid on my back and groaned, trying to ignore the pain as I tried to get up. I swore again quietly as I held my hip.

"That wasn't fun." I muttered as I looked around. Well, the good news was I didn't attract any walkers to me. The bad news was I heard voices coming my way. Not good.

I turned and ran into the forest. I'm not a coward, but I've got more sense to attract attention when it's not wanted. I ducked behind some bushes as I heard the voices approaching.

"See anything?" One guy asked his pal.

The other man shook his head. "No. Nothing but plants."

"You remember how Paul was wishing the lurkers had been vegetarians instead of people eaters?"

"They'd clear these plants away."

"Well, we should head back. Damien's going to want the stuff we found."

I stayed where I was until I was sure they were gone. I don't know who this Damien was, but something inside me told me I needed to follow them. I shook my head. I must be going crazy. I turned and continued on my way.

* * *

Clair's POV

I spent my time trying to figure a way out. Light was filtering in from cracks throughout the truck, but I couldn't make them any bigger. Not without cutting myself at least. Nothing useful in here either. Looks like they wanted to make sure everyone was trapped, and the doors were the only way in or out. Guess I just wait. For now.

I must've fallen asleep in that stinking prison because a lot of light flooded in to my eyes. "You. Out." The ladder hit me on the head. "Come on. Damien don't like to be kept waiting."

Rubbing my head and groaning I climbed out. I wasn't going to find an escape in here. I doubt Damien would want to see me after the bite I gave him. The guards had been changed to a guy with a heavily scarred face and a girl with short blond hair. They both looked at me like I was some sort of criminal.

Thankfully they didn't lead me towards Damien. They took me to an area that must've been a stable because they were leading horses around. Those horses looked as if they were in a worse state than I was. Their manes and tails were a mess, no sign of grooming and with twigs and leaves tangled in them. They were also covered in scars and cuts. Didn't these people know how to take care of horses?

One horse, chocolate brown with a black mane, reared up and started neighing loudly. The walkers that served as the security turned and reached towards us, but they were tied up and couldn't go anywhere. Several people grabbed the horse and tried to get it under control. The horse just reared up and hit a guy with a hoof. I cringed as I heard the person's skull crack and they fell over.

I saw people coming out of an area with guns. That must be the armory, but I decided to worry about my weapons later. I ran over to the horse that was out of control. The others were backing off to avoid being killed by him. Don't ask me how I know it was a male. I just did.

I slowed down as I got closer. Something inside me said you should never run towards a horse. The horse turned and glared at me. I held out my hands. "Easy, easy." I could see the people with guns aiming them at the horse. Now or never.

"I'm not going to hurt you." I told the horse. He stopped rearing up and neighing. He did snort and breath heavily, and looked at me like he suspected something. I let him sniff me before placing my hands on his snout. "That's a good boy. I just want to help you." I looked into his eyes and I saw that he was calming down. It was like he decided to trust me.

Someone else began to approach. The horse noticed and snorted in agitation. He even raised a hoof. I held out a hand to tell the guy who was approaching to stop. To my surprise he listened. I kept stroking the horse and talking to him.

"Well, well, well." I heard one of my guards say. "Think you can take him back to the stables?"

"We'll see." I said. I began to lead the horse back to the stables. The horse took one look and whinnied softly. I looked at him and realized he didn't want to go back there. I stroked him again. "It's okay. I'll come get you." The horse looked at me and I saw he didn't want to stay here. He wanted to leave.

I sympathized with him. I hugged his snout to try and let him know I knew how he felt. I wanted out of here too. But we would need food and a means to keep us safe. I looked at the horse and to my surprise his eyes seemed to say he understood. He would wait.

I let go of him and walked towards the stables. I heard murmuring and saw that the horse was following me. Guess he's given people here a lot of problems. He followed me to the makeshift stable and entered what was supposed to be a stall. There was a pole with a rope on it. I tied him to it, as much as I didn't want to.

I noticed someone had dropped a knife on the ground. I knelt down to act like I was checking the horse's hoofs, then I grabbed the knife and hid it in my right boot. I then stood up, patted the horse on the snout, and left.

"Well, you handled that horse well." One of my guards told me. "Work with horses before?"

I shrugged. "I don't really remember anything."

"Well, don't get too attached. That horse is for next week's dinner. Though Damien might-"

I turned to my guards. "They're going to kill him?"

"Why not? If we don't eat them, the lurkers might." The male guard laughed. "Not too fond of horse meat, but these days our options are limited."

"Now get to the kitchen. You're needed."

* * *

?'s POV

I was getting really irritated. All day my heart has been bothering me, like I didn't do something I was supposed to. What would it take to make it go away?

I kicked a rock. This sucks. This was like an itch that wouldn't go away, and was in a place that was out of reach for you to scratch. I looked to the right as my heart had the same feeling. Am I supposed to go that way?

I looked at the path before I looked at the other one. I looked back at the right path again and sighed. "I am so gonna regret this, ain't I?" I asked myself sarcastically before taking the path to my right.

* * *

Clair's POV

Well, apart from washing the dishes, if you could call it washing, and cleaning up the bones of… I don't want to know what, I was put back in the truck. They really wanted to keep me under lock and key. Hopefully the knife I found would help me get out. Good thing they didn't search me.

Once the ladder was pulled out, I waited until they locked the door. I began to look around for a way out. However it wasn't long before I heard a commotion outside. The door was opened again and the ladder was lowered. "Out."

"But I…"

"Shut up and get out here." They pointed their guns at me. I listened to them and began climbing out. I froze when I saw why they wanted me out. Damien was coming towards me. And with him was the man from before.

"Here she is." Damien said. The man looked at me with pleasure. I don't know how he found me, but this couldn't be good.

"Kill her." The man said. The girl pointed her rifle at me and pulled the trigger. That's when crazy stuff started happening. The rifle exploded in her hands. She fell over, and I had a feeling she was going to get back up quickly.

"Eliza! Eliza!" The other guard shoved me out of the way and ran to her. "No. No…" he turned back to me and grabbed his rifle. "I'll kill you for that you little…" he was cut off as Eliza came back as a walker, or lurker, and bit him in the neck. He screamed as she pulled him down, tearing off chunks of flesh and eating them.

"Eliza." The man said. She looked at him. "Stop eating." To our surprise she did as he said.

Damien looked at her. "What the heck is this?" Only he didn't say heck.

The guy smiled. "Oh, let's say I have some talents. One of them is commanding the dead."

The other guard got back up. Thankfully he didn't attack me, he just stood up and joined Eliza in moaning. If I was scared before, I was terrified now. I was sure that my death had come.

"Watch this." Pointing at Damien, the guy said, "Kill him."

Damien pulled out a gun and fired at the walkers, but they overwhelmed him and sunk their teeth into him. His cries were drowned out by people screaming. The guy then turned to me.

"You're next." He said. To my shock fangs appeared in his mouth and he lunged at me. I rolled out of the way, but he was fast. He grabbed me by the neck and growled. "I'm going to enjoy this."

I kicked him in the gut, but that didn't do anything. He growled and moved his mouth to my flesh. I never thought I'd go like this. I tried to force him away from me.

He then screamed in pain and dropped me. I noticed his hands were burning, with smoke coming off them. What in the world? I decided to not waste this opportunity. I got up and ran towards the armory.

People were grabbing weapons and ran towards the guy. They began firing at him, but none of their bullets seemed to affect him. I was convinced more than ever that he wasn't human.

I searched through the armory trying to find my weapons. Yes. There they were. I grabbed my quiver, threw it over my back, and grabbed my bow. I put my tomahawk and my knife back where they belonged. I then raced out of the armory. Time to get out of here.

I stopped and saw, to my horror, everyone here was dead. The man was standing over them, a look of triumph in his eyes. He sniffed. "Nothing like the smell of carnage to make me feel happy."

"You're crazy!" I said. He just smirked at me and snapped his fingers. Every single one of them got up and started towards me. Great. Trapped with walkers inside and outside. I probably didn't have enough arrows, but there was one way to find out. I readied my bow and began firing arrows.

I heard a whinny. I turned to see the horse I helped earlier had broken free from the stable and was racing towards me. I didn't know what I was doing, but the next thing I knew I was grabbing a hold of his neck and swinging myself over his back. The horse charged through the walkers, kicking and knocking them away.

The horse ran towards the gates, which were shut. Oh great. Now what? The horse didn't make any sign of slowing down. I just held on and braced myself for the worst. To my surprise he just leapt over the fence. I don't know how he was able to clear the fence, but he did. The walker security didn't stop him as he raced towards the forest.

* * *

We stopped later next to a stream. I dismounted from the horse and got the rope off him so he could drink. I looked at him with gratitude. I never expected to have my life saved by a horse. What had driven him to do that for me? "You can go free if you want." I told him. He looked at me with a look that I swear said, "Are you kidding me?"

"I'm serious. You're free now." I told him. He nickered and resumed drinking. I think he was serious too. He was going to stay with me. Now I need to figure out how to feed the two of us. He was also going to need a name.

"Well, if we're sticking together, you're going to need a name." I told him. "How about Chocolate?" He nickered. "Yeah, that'll only make me hungry. What about Noble?" No response. "Fleetfoot?" No response. I thought about it. When he was running, it was almost like I was the wind. "Windrun?" He nuzzled me at that. I laughed. "Okay. Windrun it is."

* * *

 **Now she has a mode of transportation. That's going to come in handy.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's the next chapter. Sorry it took so long. To answer some questions, there will be some cameos from characters from Kingdom Hearts/Disney, possibly via flashbacks as Clair tries to remember. But be patient.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinies Embrace.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 11

?'s POV

I looked around cautiously as I trudged on. Why am I even doing this? Why do I keep getting this feeling? What's there for me to find?

I froze when I heard a twig snap. I crouched down and hid just in case, but relaxed when I saw it was just a rabbit. "Well, at least you don't wanna eat me." I said to it with a sigh. It merely looked at me before hopping off. Well, there goes another meal...

I really need to start looking for food. I'm running low on supplies already. I pushed myself up to my feet and resumed walking down the path. Suddenly, I heard a sound. I looked down to see a loop, which my foot was in. I looked back up and saw it was connected to a tree. My eyes widened. Oh, come on...

"AAAAAAHHH!" I screamed as I was yanked off my feet by the rope and ended up being dangled upside down by my foot. I swore. Not again! I then froze when I heard the familiar distant snarls of walkers. Oh no...

* * *

Clair's POV

Windrun allowed me to keep riding him while I kept an eye out for walkers. I knew we couldn't just keep scavenging the way we had been. We needed to have steady supplies. Hopefully we could start saving up soon. I looked at him. "I know you've been having a steady diet of grass, but that won't last forever. I think a treat every now and again would be good. Like an occasional apple or carrot." He whinnied at that. I smiled in response.

I heard someone scream. I knew a sound like that would attract walkers so we moved in that direction. Hopefully it was someone who still had their sanity. Only one way to find out.

We kept heading in the direction that the scream came from. There were a couple of walkers heading in that direction, but a couple of arrows took them out. I could hear someone struggling now. They must be in trouble. I could see more walkers up ahead. Do they ever stop coming?

I fired a couple of arrows, taking some of them out. Some turned and came towards us, but Windrun reared up and buried his hooves in their skulls. We then charged forward. I kind of felt like someone in one of those fairy tales riding a horse bareback and swinging my tomahawk. The remaining walkers fell down dead. I then looked to see who we had rescued.

It was a girl close to my age. She had Caucasian skin and really messy brown hair. A guitar was slung over her shoulder. She was wearing a black t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned black flannel shirt. She also had on dark blue jeans and had a dark blue bandana over her right eye. Her other eye was green, and she was staring at me.

"Oh, what are you supposed to be, my knight in shining armor?" She asked sarcastically.

I shook my head. "Nope. Just someone trying to help."

"Not a lot of people are helpful these days. Unless they just help themselves to whatever a person is carrying." She said.

"I'm not one of those people." I told her. "I came to see if you want any help."

"No, I'd rather just hang around here letting the blood flow to my brain while killer corpses try to eat me." She said sarcastically. "Of course I would like some help!"

"Okay." I said. "Just give me a sec…"

The rope suddenly snapped and she fell face first onto the ground. She swore before saying "Ow." I looked to see Windrun had some rope in his mouth. He must've chewed threw it.

I shook my head. "You're that hungry?"

The girl stood up. "Maybe warn me before I do a crash landing?"

"His fault." I pointed to Windrun. He snorted in response.

The girl looked at him. "I didn't think there were still horses left. I thought all the lurkers got 'em." Windrun sniffed her face right before he licked her. "Ewwwww!"

I laughed as she wiped her face off. "Ugh, I think I got some horse slobber in my mouth!"

"You going somewhere?" I asked her. She looked to answer before she gasped. "What?"

"It's you."

"Me?"

"Yeah. This is going to sound crazy, but I had this dream about you."

Yeah, that sounded crazy. Windrun turned and began to walk away. The girl ran up to us.

"I'm serious. I had this dream about these creatures that…what were they called again? Bustless? Merciless? Heartless?"

That got my attention. I looked at her. "You've seen the Heartless?"

She nodded. "But I don't know anything about them. All I know was that I was told to find you."

I had that dream too. The Heartless all came at me, and people were trying to help me. Was it… was it coincidence that I found someone who had the same dream as I did? It couldn't be.

"I could explain, but it'd probably be better if I didn't." I told her.

"Why?" She asked me.

I sighed. "This guy is after me, and he's in control of the Heartless. I don't know why he has it in for me, but he's made it clear anyone close to me would suffer."

The girl put her hands on her hips. "Sister, I've been chased for two years by the dead that don't stay dead, cannibals who wanted my guts for dinner, and crazy gangs who run amok. I ain't backing down from some creepo!"

I had this feeling that she was serious. Even if we left she'd probably track us down again. This was going to be fun. "Hop on."

"Really?" She asked me.

"That way Windrun can't lick you again." I chuckled. "Name's Clair. Clair Fay."

"Anne Marshall." Anne introduced herself. I helped her on behind me. "So why's he called Windrun?"

"Because he can run like the wind. Hyah!" I said. Windrun reared up and took off running. Anne cried out and grabbed the only thing she could to keep herself from falling off. Me.

Windrun was walking calmly later. Anne had settled down too, and was enjoying actually riding something. We both kept an eye out for walkers, but the only ones we saw were already dead. I didn't know whether to be relieved or worried.

"So how did you find Windrun?" Anne asked me.

"Well, I was dragged to this camp of refugees. They locked me in a truck, only coming out to do labor. Windrun was giving them problems because they were going to eat him."

"They were going to eat him?" Anne asked me.

I nodded. "We escaped together." I decided to not tell her about being attacked by the person who was chasing me, and that he has demonic powers. It was good to have company again.

"Sounds like you've had quite the adventures, but who doesn't." Anne said. I smiled, though she couldn't see me. Windrun whinnied, then stopped.

"What is it?" I asked Windrun.

Anne answered. "People." I looked to see she was right. There was a group coming our way, and they had guns. My first instinct was to run, but something about them seemed familiar.

"Hey, who are you?" One of the men pointed a rifle at me. I recognized that voice. Kind of unforgettable.

"Will you watch before you shoot, Nick?" I asked him.

They all gasped. "Clair?" Sarah asked me. I dismounted from Windrun. The girl ran up and hugged me. "You're alive."

"Of course I am." I told her. The rest of the cabin group came up. Emily slugged me on the shoulder. "What was that for?"

"For ditching us." She said.

I stood up. "I had to. Someone was after me and I had to find out why. He was threatening to hurt all of you, if not kill you."

"We can handle ourselves." Rebecca said. "While you were gone we all had this crazy dream with a bunch of monsters. Nick and Luke said they were the same ones that attacked you that day."

So they had the dream too? All of them? Is this why we ended up finding each other again? As I thought about it I noticed there were two people missing. "Where's Marie? And Pete?" Nick's face fell. It dawned on me what happened. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Who's this?" Someone asked. I noticed some new faces had joined them. One was a little girl a couple years younger than Sarah. She had short dark hair with a purple t-shirt over a white striped shirt and grey jeans. She was also wearing a cap with the letter D on it. For some reason I could sense that hat was special to her.

Sarah looked at her. "Clem, this is my friend Clair. Clair, this is my new friend Clementine." I held out a hand to her. I half expected her to not take it, but she did shake it.

The other member of their group was a woman who looked to be in her twenties. She had caramel brown hair tied in a braid. She was wearing a black tank top with a brown sweat jacket, a green vest, and blue jeans. For some reason I could see a resemblance between her and Emily. "It is her. The one from the dream." She said. So she had the dream too?

"It is, Tess. It's her." Nick said. So her name was Tess. Anne dismounted and approached her. Everyone seemed surprised to see her.

"Oh, this is Anne Marshall." I introduced her to them. Sarah smiled at Anne. Anne waved back.

"If everyone is done, we need to get moving." Carlos said. "Carver will be upon us any minute."

"Who's Carver?" I asked.

"We'll explain on the way. We need to get going." Luke said. I noticed Rebecca seemed exhausted. Windrun seemed to sense it too because he walked over to her and nuzzled her.

"A horse." Sarah said.

I smiled. "His name's Windrun."

"Why Windrun?" Tess asked me.

"Because he can run like the wind, and he wouldn't respond to anything else." I answered.

Alvin looked at me. "You don't think he'd mind carrying Rebecca do you?"

"Alvin, I'm fine." Rebecca said.

I looked at Windrun. I was sure I could tell what he was thinking. "I think Windrun would be more than willing to carry Rebecca."

"I said I don't need help." Rebecca started to walk but Windrun got in front of her. "Hey, move it."

I shook my head. "I don't think he's going to move unless you get on him." Rebecca shook her head and muttered under her breath. Alvin, Tess, Anne, and I helped her up onto Windrun's back. Once she was settled he started walking, and like that we were on our way.

* * *

 **And here's the first appearance of Clementine. I hope you enjoyed. Now I need to get to work.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Back again. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I tried to include some humor in here.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts and/or the Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 12

Clair's POV

We continued walking through the forest. Rebecca seemed okay riding on Windrun, though she kept a hand on her stomach. She must've been thinking about the baby. I could tell that wasn't all that was troubling her.

"So what happened while I was away? Apart from the bad stuff?" I asked.

Emily looked at me. "We were settling down when Tess came to our door. Most of us didn't trust her at first, but we opened up to her."

"I left my old group, if that's what you're wondering." Tess told me. "I thought they were good people, but then I saw them for who they were. I was out looking for supplies with my mom, and she got bit. The leader of our group could've saved her, but…" Tess kicked a rock. "…he left her to die! Pushed her into the incoming herd and dragged me away while they tore her apart!" She did swear, but I omitted those words.

I looked at her with shock. "I'm sorry. That's horrible."

"There's the understatement of the year." Tess said. "I refused to stay there any longer. I left, and mark my words, if I ever see that monster again, I'll put a bullet in his head."

I decided to never get on her bad side.

"It was a few days later we ran into Clem." Emily said. "Pete and Luke found her in the woods, and brought her back. Most of us thought she was bitten by a walker, but it turned out to be a dog bite."

"A dog?" I asked. I noticed Clem looked a little sad, so I decided to change the subject. "What did you do?"

"The group decided to lock her in a shed and wait until morning to make sure she wouldn't turn." Tess folded her arms. "Stupid decision. I know the difference between a walker bite and a dog bite."

I looked at the rest of the cabin group. "How could you? It could've gotten infected."

"Hey, we wanted to be sure." Rebecca said.

"And I wasn't going to waste supplies on a lurker bite." Carlos said. "Wouldn't have done anything to keep her from turning."

I thought back to the people who captured me, and how fast they turned when the guns exploded in their hands. I shuddered at the memory, and nausea filled my stomach. Anne looked at me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I said. "I was just remembering something."

"About your past?" Sarah asked.

I shook my head. "While I was away I got captured by a group of survivors. They were going to kill me, but some of them turned."

"Dang." Alvin said. Only he didn't say dang.

"Where were they located?" Luke asked me. I pointed in the direction I remembered coming from. That seemed to relieve him. "Okay, so they weren't with him."

"Him?" I asked.

"William Carver. The man we're running from." Rebecca said. "He leads a survivor camp. We used to be a part of it, but we had to leave."

"Why?" I asked.

Carlos approached me. "Because he's a dangerous man. We probably wouldn't be alive if we'd stayed with him. He found the cabin where we were, and we had to leave." I could tell from their voices that they were scared of him. If they could be afraid of someone who was still alive, he had to be bad.

"There's a bridge up ahead." Anne said. We stopped to take a break. Alvin helped Rebecca off Windrun, and Windrun started grazing on some plants. Luke looked at his map while Clem climbed up a rock. She pulled out a pair of binoculars and began to survey the area.

"See anything?" Luke asked.

"She better see somethin'. We've been walkin' for a dang week." Alvin said. Again, he didn't say dang.

"There's a lift or something." Clem reported.

"Chair lift?" Luke checked his map. "Must be that ski resort."

Clem looked down. "I've never been skiing."

"Me neither." I told her.

"Bec and I went once." Alvin smiled at his wife.

"It wasn't pretty." Rebecca smiled back. Alvin handed her something to eat.

Clem resumed scouting. "There's a building on the mountain."

"What's it look like?" Luke asked.

"It's big." Clem answered.

Tess rolled her eyes. "That narrows it down."

Luke and Alvin looked at each other. "That sounds like a good place to spend the night."

"There's a little house by the bridge." Clem said.

"How big is it?" Carlos asked.

"It's pretty small." Clem said.

I climbed up the rock. "Let me take a look." Clem handed me the binoculars and I took a look. Sure enough there was a tiny little shack by the bridge. "Clem's right. It's small. Doesn't look like it could house more than three people." I handed the binoculars back to Clem.

Clem looked again. "There's the bridge."

"Does it look passable?" Luke asked.

"I think so." Clem answered.

"Good."

I looked at him. "You're really going to cross that thing? We'll be out in the open, and we could get ambushed by walkers, or other survivors."

"We're going to have to take that chance." Tess said. "I just want to get to those mountains ASAP."

"We have to cross that bridge. Let's go." Carlos said.

"Hold on now. We can't all go sprinting across that thing, okay? If we get spotted out there, we're gonna be trapped." Luke said.

"Thank you." I told him.

Anne spoke up. "Can't we go around?"

"Going around that lake will take too long." Carlos said.

"Right, but… look, we've got no idea who's out there. Okay, I'm gonna sneak across and make sure it's clear before we bring the whole group over." Luke said.

"You think splitting up the group is a good idea?" Carlos asked.

Luke shrugged. "I never said it was a GOOD idea. But it's better than riskin' everyone at once."

Tess nodded. "That way if they get in trouble the rest of us can bail 'em out." I noticed she spoke in a similar accent to Emily.

"What's your plan?" Alvin asked.

"Clem and I can scoot across low and slow and make sure nobody's waitin' for us on the other side." Luke answered.

"We'll have a tough time coverin' you from back here." Alvin told him.

Luke shrugged. "Well, we'll just turn back if it gets hairy."

Carlos didn't look convinced. "Clementine should stay here. She's… "

"She's what?" Luke asked.

"She's just a little girl, Luke."

"I can do it." Clem said.

Luke smirked. "See? No problem. It's gonna be fine. Okay? We'll signal you guys in ten minutes. Just watch for a light at the far side."

He seemed pretty sure about his plan. Still, we should be prepared. "Maybe we should have a Plan B in case Plan A doesn't work out." I suggested.

"We'll be fine." Luke insisted.

Nick stood up. "I can go too."

"You stay with the group." Luke told him.

Nick glared at him. "I'm fine, Luke."

"I don't like this." Carlos said.

"Yeah, well, when's the last time you liked anything, Carlos?" Luke asked.

"I'll cover you." Nick said.

Luke looked at Clem. "Come on." And like that they were gone.

* * *

I kept looking where they had gone. Were they on the other side of the bridge yet, or did something happen to them? Anne was tapping her foot impatiently. "They should've been there by now." She said.

"Should we go check on them?" Sarah asked.

"No, sweetie. We'll wait here." Carlos said.

Nick stood up. "I'm goin' after them."

"No." Tess said. "We should give them a chance."

"I'll go see if they're okay." I said. I looked at Nick. "You'd better stay here. Make sure our retreat is clear."

"Why do you get to go?" Nick asked.

I looked at him. "Consider me more expendable." With that I was heading towards the bridge. I hope this wasn't a mistake. I looked back to see Nick was trying to follow, but Windrun took his hat from him. I heard Nick swearing as he tried to retrieve it.

I kept going as I approached the bridge. I saw two dead walkers at the entrance. Luke and Clem must've taken them out. I couldn't help but feel sorry for these things. They used to be people, but they had become monsters. I just wish I knew how it happened.

I saw Luke and Clem further down the bridge, and it looked like they were talking to someone. Things seemed to be going well enough, so I just strolled along the bridge. I passed at least one more walker body along the way. These things were everywhere. I wasn't in hearing range yet, but the guy they were talking to noticed me, and pointed his rifle at me.

I held up my hands. "Don't shoot. I come in peace!" I noticed Luke and Clem talking with the man. I slowly approached, but I kept my hands up. I didn't want to give him the wrong impression. I then finally got into hearing range.

"She's with you?" The man asked Luke and Clem.

Luke nodded. "She's friendly."

The man looked at me. "Who are you?"

"I'm Clair." I introduced myself. "What's your name?"

"I'm Matt." Was his answer as he lowered his rifle. "Sorry, I thought you were someone who wanted trouble."

I lowered my arms. "I don't go looking for trouble, but it has a way of finding me."

Matt nodded. "No kidding."

"Matt's going to help us." Clem told me. "He's got food for us."

"Really?" I asked.

"Really." Matt said.

I smiled. "Everyone's going to like this."

"Everyone?" Matt asked. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. "How many are there?"

Luke frowned at me before turning to Matt. "There's eight more. They stayed behind in case something bad was waiting for us."

"Well, as long as you're friendly, you'll find good hospitality." Matt said. He looked behind us again. I turned and noticed the group was coming up. Anne rode up on Windrun. "Whoa. You have a horse?"

I nodded before turning to Anne. "Please let the others know that Matt's a friend. He's got food for us."

"Really? That's the best news I've heard all day." Anne smiled before Windrun turned and went back to the others. She told them the news and I could tell everyone was relieved. Matt turned and began heading to the house with the rest of us following him.

* * *

When we got there Rebecca sat down on a log while the rest of us made ourselves comfortable. Matt went inside the shack while the rest of us stood talking. Clem looked at me. "Why did you follow us?"

"We were getting worried, and I wanted to make sure you two were okay." I said.

"You should've waited for the signal." Luke told me.

I glared at him. "And what if you had been killed? We could've been there when someone or something else might've come along."

"Everyone calm down." Clem said. I nodded and decided to drop the subject. Good thing too, because Matt came out holding a couple cans of peaches.

"This is all I have here right now." Matt said. "I've got more food up at the lodge. You could spend the night there, get some rest and supplies before y'all move on."

"Thanks." I told him.

"We were thinking about heading up there anyway." Tess said.

Carlos looked at him. "You're not with a man named Carver, are you?"

"Carver? Who's Carver?" Matt asked. "Never heard of him." I looked around and everyone seemed to be more relaxed. That was before Windrun started neighing. I looked back across the bridge and saw a lot of walkers coming across.

"Oh no." I said. "We've got company."

Anne swore at the sight. "We gotta go."

"Alright. We're headin' up." Luke said.

Matt nodded. "Follow me." We did as he said and hurried out of there. I just hope we'll be able to sleep soundly without getting our faces chewed off.

* * *

 **I'll be honest, if there's one thing I hate about the Walking Dead universe, it's the herds of walkers. Trust me I've had several nightmares about them. Even had a few where they ended up crawling up the wall like Spider-Man after I climbed up high to avoid them. Not a fun nightmare.  
**

 **Hope you don't mind me making the alterations in this chapter. I need to make this universe different in some ways. Can't be a complete retelling of Season 2, otherwise it would be boring in the sense that everyone already knows how the story goes, and no surprises or** **anything.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts and/or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

 **Dylan and Chase Enheart belong to I heart Lyoko.**

* * *

Chapter 13: Safe at last?

CLAIR'S POV

It was night by the time we reached the ski lodge. Matt had been a good guide and had gotten us up here as quickly as possible. Nick still wasn't sure about him, but then several in our group weren't sure about him. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He's helped us so far, and if Matt wanted to hurt us he would've done it by now.

I noticed Luke and Carlos were crouching down around a corner as I helped Rebecca up. She kept insisting she didn't need help, but she allowed me to help her. She was going to need her strength when the baby came. Thankfully Windrun was able to carry her up.

"Well? What are we waiting for?" She asked Luke and Carlos.

I noticed someone was missing. "Where's Matt?"

"He went around the building and hasn't come back." Luke said.

Carlos looked at us. "We have to be careful."

"Careful? We've been on the road for five days." Rebecca reminded them. "My back is done bein' careful." Alvin came up and helped her off my horse. Once she was off he just lowered his head and began grazing.

"I think we could all use the rest." Emily said. "Who knows how far we'll be traveling tomorrow."

Tess looked through the boarded windows. "Seems empty. Maybe no one's here."

"Looks can be deceiving." Anne said, "Although I'd love a place to lie down for the night."

Alvin swore as he tried to pry one of the boards off. "Nailed down tight."

"That should mean this place is walker proof, right?" I asked.

"Or there's a whole bunch of 'em inside." Nick said. "And where's Matt? He should've been back by now."

"Maybe he needed to go to the bathroom." Sarah suggested.

Alvin stood up. "I'll check around front."

"I'll go with you." Carlos said.

"So will I." Emily said as she went with them. Anne sat down exhausted next to the railing. She didn't dangle her feet over the edge. I guess she had too many bad experiences with that. I helped Rebecca sit down before going to check on Clem, who was with Luke.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah. We're just talking."

"We need to make sure nobody's back there." Luke said. He looked at the ski loft. "Could probably get a better view from up top. You'd have an easier time gettin' up there. You feel like taking a look?"

"I can do it." I volunteered.

Clem looked at me. "I can do it."

"You sure?" She just stared at me with her amber eyes. I felt intimidated by her. "Okay, you can do it."

"It'll be like climbing a treehouse." Luke said. "You know, just a really tall treehouse."

"I had a treehouse once." Clem said.

"There you go." Luke said. I nodded. She probably has lots of experience climbing…

"I hated it." She added. Oh. Never mind. As we walked over to the ski loft an image flashed in my head. It was a tall tree, surrounded by a jungle. There was a house built into the tree. I groaned and held my head, and the image vanished.

Luke was looking at me. "You okay? Something the matter?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine." I said. I didn't want them to worry. Besides, a tropical tree house wasn't much to go on. Once my head was cleared I looked at the loft. It was a long way up, but I guess in an emergency it would be better than getting trapped by walkers. Hopefully they can't climb ladders.

"Just take it slow, and I'll catch you if you fall. Probably." Luke told her.

I rolled my eyes. "Real comforting. If he doesn't I'll catch you."

Clem started up the ladder. "Got a good grip?" Luke asked her.

"Yeah." Was her response.

"When I was a kid we used to jump rooftops downtown. Now that was fun."

"That sounds stupid." Clem voiced my thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah, it was." Luke admitted. "The trick was to not look down, though."

"When Emily first found me I had been sleeping in a tree." I said.

"A tree?" Clem asked.

"Yeah. I didn't feel comfortable sleeping on the ground when man-eating corpses were wandering around. Good thing I did because one time I woke up and a couple of them were walking past. If I hadn't been on the ground who knows what would've happened." I said.

Luke looked at me. "You probably wouldn't be here now."

Clem slipped before I could reply. My heart jumped as we approached the ladder. Luke held out his arms.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're fine. Just look at us, okay? You're fine." He said.

I shook my head. "All right, just—just slow down for a second. No need to rush it."

"Keep your voices down!" Clem called down to us.

"But you just yelled at us!" Luke said.

"Shut up!" Okay, note to self. Don't get on her bad side. I kept quiet as she finished climbing up the ladder. "Made it." I heard a crow fly away.

Luke seemed relieved. "See anything?"

"I can see the bridge." Clem said. "Wait, I see something!"

For some reason that made me feel nervous. "What kind of something?"

"What is it?" Luke asked.

"A light." Clem answered. "Wait, there's another."

Not good. I hoped they'd be friendlies, but from what I've seen so far that's probably wishful thinking. At least we could…

"Hands up!" Someone said. I turned to see our group was being confronted by another. Windrun snorted in response. Luke headed back while I looked up at Clem.

"Get down here. I think we might have trouble." I called up to her. Clem wasted no time climbing down the ladder. While she was coming down I pulled out my bow and readied an arrow. I'm not going to be defenseless for whoever they are. Once Clem was down I looked at her. "Stay close." She nodded and we approached the groups. Tensions were running high.

"Listen, everyone, just stay calm." Luke was trying to reason with everyone.

"Who are you? Are you trying to rob us?" A woman with a strange accent asked. It wasn't the same accent that Emily, Tess, Anne, and Clem had. It sounded very different.

"Excuse me, honey, but do I look like a thief?" Rebecca asked. Swear word omitted.

Tess, who had come back, was holding her hands up in surrender. "This is all a big misunderstanding!"

"We're not trying to rob anyone!" Anne growled.

"What's going on… whoa, Walt!" I heard Matt come back. "It's okay. I brought them here."

"Are you crazy Matt?" Another man asked. "We don't know anything about them! They could be dangerous!"

"I understand your reason, but if they wanted to hurt us they would've done it by now." Matt said.

"Matt's right." Another man said. "He was alone with them."

"They probably wanted to wait until we were all together before finishing us off!" The man from before said.

"Everyone calm down." The other man said. I finally saw he was bald with a red sweater.

"Hey man, you calm down." Alvin said. Swear word omitted.

"Sarah, get behind me." Carlos stood in front of his daughter protectively.

"Look, we thought this place was abandoned." Tess said. "We'll go now."

"Just tell us who you are." The sweater man said.

Anne shook her head. "Why don't you tell us who you are?"

"Don't get sassy with us." The other man, a bearded guy with a baseball cap, snapped.

"Tell us who you are and you can go!" A younger voice said. He sounded close to Anne's age.

I stepped up. "Everyone just stop."

The bearded man swore at that. I guess that means the same thing as no way.

"You're in no position to make demands." Another voice said. It was similar to the younger voice from before.

"We ain't here to rob nobody. Put the guns down." Alvin said.

"Forget it!" The first younger voice said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." Luke said trying to calm everyone down. People must've forgotten what it means to calm down.

"Please, just do what he says." The woman said.

"It'll save you a whole lotta trouble." One of the younger voices said.

Clem then pushed past me. I heard her gasp as she stepped forward. She was looking at the man with the beard with shock. When he noticed her he looked as if he was seeing a ghost.

"Kenny?!" Clem asked. Did she know him.

I lowered my bow. "Clem, do you know him?"

"Wait, do you know this guy?" Luke asked.

The man, who I guess was named Kenny, just stared in shock. "…Clementine?" Clem then hugged the man, who hugged her back.

I put my arrow away. "I'll take that as a yes."

Kenny smiled and put a hand on her shoulder before he looked at us. "These people with you?" She nodded in response.

I then heard another gasp. "Anne, is that you?" I noticed the younger voices from before belonged to two teenaged boys that were around Anne's age. The one who had spoken had slightly tanned skin with short dark hair. He had it cut really short and there was a scar on his left cheek. He was wearing a long sleeved black shirt under a grey hoodie with blue jeans and black boots. I noticed one eye was blue and the other was hazel.

Anne stared at him with shock. "D-Dylan? Chase?"

The other teenager stepped forward. He had messy brown hair and slightly pale skin. He had a scar going from the top of his right eyebrow all the way to underneath his right eye. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath with blue jeans and white sneakers. I noticed he also had a blue eye and a hazel eye.

Anne suddenly ran forward and hugged them. They hugged her back. They must've been old friends from a long time ago. I noticed tears were streaming down her eye. Her bandana was probably getting soaked.

Kenny stood up. "We can talk inside." He said. I was starting to wonder if he was in charge here. He acted like it.

The man with the sweater smiled. "Great. I just started dinner."

"That's good. I'm starving." Matt said.

Carlos looked at Sarah before asking, "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"It's gonna storm soon. Please come in." The man said.

"Thank you, Mister…" I wasn't sure what to call him.

"My name is Walter. You've already met Kenny, Dylan, Chase, and Matt. This is Sarita." He introduced everyone.

We followed them into the lodge. Wow. This place is decorated for what seemed like a holiday. The lights, the tree with baubles… it seemed really familiar. My head started hurting at the sight.

"Kenny, Sarita, Dylan, and Chase have been staying with us for several weeks." Walter explained. "Used to be a ski lodge, obviously, so we have plenty of food. And believe it or not, we still get some power from that wind turbine out front."

So that's what that thing was called.

"We tend to keep most of the lights off at night to avoid drawing attention." Walter continued, "But after we found this stuff in storage we couldn't resist making an exception." I saw Kenny making some motion with his hand. Almost like it was just blabbering on. Clem giggled at that. For some reason that action made me giggle too, as did Anne, Emily, Jess, Dylan, and Chase. Walter looked at us. "What's funny?"

"Oh nothin', Walt." Kenny said. "Walter here's one smart son of a witch. Makes a mean can of beans, too." He said something that wasn't witch, but I'm not going to repeat it.

Walter smiled. "Well, why don't you two catch up while I get some dinner started?" As the others came in he added, "Please, make yourselves at home. You can leave your things over there." I looked at the bench he was pointing at.

"The heck we will." Rebecca said. Only she didn't say heck.

"Yeah, I'm holding on to my rifle, thanks." Nick said.

Walter looked sad. "You're our guests here. There's no need to worry."

"Tell him to put his gun down, then." Nick said. Tess put a hand on his shoulder.

Kenny looked at Clem. "Will you vouch for these people, Clem?"

She nodded. "They're cool." Clem said. To prove her point I walked over to the bench and placed my knife and tomahawk on it. Then I pulled off my bow and quiver of arrows and placed them on the bench too. For some reason I got this strong feeling that I needed to keep my other knife hidden in my boot. I don't know why but I chose to obey that feeling.

"Dad! Look! A Christmas Tree!" Sarah said. That's right. These are Christmas decorations. I remember now.

"Not now, Sarah." Carlos said.

"Isn't it great? We found it all in storage." Sarita told them.

Sarah smiled. "It's amazing." She looked at me. "Do you remember…?"

I nodded. "This was my favorite holiday." She smiled when I said that.

Kenny then walked to the bench and put his rifle down. Chase and Dylan followed his example and set some guns and knives on the bench. Anne also placed her gun and knife, as well as her guitar and bags, down on the bench too. Emily and Tess also placed their weapons there. Soon everyone had put their stuff down and the feelings eased up.

"Good. If you'll all follow me, I'll show you where you can sleep." Sarita said as she led us up. This place looked so comfortable. I felt safe here. At home. The fire in the fireplace looked so inviting. Maybe… we finally found a place to stay.

* * *

 **There was a Disney reference in this chapter. Was anyone able to find it? Say so in the comments.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the late delay. I've been trying to stay on top of school so I can graduate this month. Hopefully afterwards I can get down to catching up on this, and continuing it. Some ideas have been floating around in my head, but I need to make sure they're the right ideas.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Catching up

Clair's POV

After Sarita showed us to our rooms I headed down to the main lobby. Clem and Kenny were catching up with each other. Sarita walked up to them and Kenny wasted no time introducing her to Clem. It was then Walter walked in.

"Hey Walt, is Matt outside?" Kenny asked.

"Of course he is." Walter replied. "He's working with Chase and Dylan to get supplies in before the storm hits. He plans on going back to the shack tomorrow."

"Back to that matchbox?" Kenny asked. "Dang, he's gonna get himself killed at this rate." Only he didn't say dang. "Oh, sorry. Swear." Kenny apologized to Clem.

"It's okay." Clem said with a smile. Why do I get the feeling that was some joke between them?

"Well, I'll start dinner." Walter said as he went into the kitchen. The others were coming back too.

"Carlos, right? Mind if I steal your daughter for a secret mission?" Sarita asked Carlos.

Carlos looked at Sarah. "Stay in sight, sweetie."

Anne looked at Kenny. "Where are Chase and Dylan?"

"Outside, helping Matt." Was his reply.

Anne nodded. "I'll go help them."

"I'll come with you." I said.

Anne smiled. "Thanks, Clair." Anne thanked me as we headed outside. I could see Matt, Chase, and Dylan moving boxes of food towards the lodge. Windrun was just grazing nearby.

"Chase! Dylan!" Anne called happily as we caught up to them.

Chase and Dylan smiled at her. "You mind giving us a hand?"

Anne nodded. "That's why Clair and I came." The door opened behind us. I turned to see Nick, Luke, and Tess had come out.

"Hey there." Luke said.

"Hey." Chase greeted.

"We were told we could give you a hand out here." Nick said.

Matt gestured to several boxes behind him. "If you could get those that would be great."

We went to grab the boxes with Chase and Dylan. "Sorry for being hostile earlier." Chase apologized

"I understand." I said. "For all you know we could've been enemies."

Dylan nodded. "Very hard to find friends these days. We're lucky we found Walt and Matt."

"So, um... How have you two been?" Anne asked them.

"Same as everyone's been doing." Dylan said.

Chase nodded. "Trying to not become food for the dead. Avoiding crazy folk. Missing our folks."

I looked at them. "Your parents are dead?"

Dylan elbowed Chase. "Well... dad is. We dont know about Mom..."

"How did it happen?" I asked. "If it's not..."

"We just got back from France." Chase said. "We were at the airport in Atlanta when a guy attacked us. We thought he was a mugger, until he bit Dad's hand off. We tried to get him to the hospital, but he bled out..."

Dylan looked down. "Then he turned and bit the guys in the ambulance. We tried to make him remember, but it didn't work."

"We learned the hard way that when you die, you don't come back." Chase said. "All that's left is a flesh-eating corpse. We escaped with Mom and Dylan's girlfriend..."

Anne dropped the box she was holding. "Girlfriend?" She asked in a shocked voice. I rose an eyebrow as I helped pick it up again.

"We survived for a while." Dylan said as we approached the lodge.

I started to set the box down while looking at him. "So where is she?"

Dylan looked down sadly. "She's dead."

I gasped and nearly dropped the box like Anne. "What happened?"

"We were checking this place out for supplies... when this walker cake up from behind her and took a chunk out of her shoulder... I killed the walker that bit her and we escaped... but..." Dylan's voice caught in his throat.

"There was nothing you could do, was there?" I asked as the boxes were set down and we headed back for some more.

Dylan shut his eyes and shook his head. "N-No... s-she was dying... She had me put her down and she told me it would be okay..."

"She didn't wanna turn." Chase said

"I-I had to... shoot her..." Dylan whispered.

"Oh my gosh... Dylan, I am so sorry..." Anne whispered. Only she didn't say gosh.

Matt thankfully changed the subject. "You acted as if you knew each other."

Dylan regained his composure. "That's because Anne was our best friend back then."

"You were my only friends." Anne said before frowning. "Why did you leave?"

"We had no choice." Dylan said. "Our parents got a job overseas, and we had to move. We're sorry we didn't say goodbye..."

Anne thought about it. She did hold an area of her arm. "Anne?" I asked.

She looked at me. "What?"

"Why are you holding your arm?"

She quickly let go of it. "Uh, no reason." she said quickly. As we lifted another box she looked back at them. "I really missed you."

"We missed you too, kid..." Chase smiled as he gave her a side hug. Dylan also hugged her. They quickly let go to grab the boxes they were holding. Chase stumbled a bit, but I helped him grab a hold of his box.

"Whoa, thanks." he thanked me.

"No problem." We then carried the box over. I noticed Nick and Tess seemed to be talking. I rose an eyebrow.

"What are you two talking about?" Chase asked

"Oh, nothing much." Tess shrugged.

"It looked as if you two were catching up." I said

"Well, we havent' seen each other in a while."

Anne smiled. "You told me how much you missed him."

"Yeah..."

"Are you two dating?" she smirked.

They both started. "What?"

"You heard me~" she teased.

Tess blushed. "So what if we are?"

Anne snickered. "Tess and Nick sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" she sang.

"Oh, shut up!" Tess groaned. Anne merely gave a mischievous smile. "Stop what?"

"You know what!" Tess snapped

Anne flinched. "Okay, okay! I'll shut up! Sheesh..." Anne said.

Chase's stomach rumbled. "How much longer until dinner?"

"Not long, Chase." Matt chuckled. "Not long."

"Great, cause I am starved!"

I chuckled at Chase's antics.

"I'm hungry enough to eat a horse." He added. Windrun looked up at that. "Uh... not you..." Chase told him. Windrun merely let out a snort and went back to grazing. I smiled at that reaction.

Anne picked up another box, but stumbled a bit. Dylan reached out and steadied her. Anne's eyes widened. "Uh... t-thanks..." She lost her balance and fell over. "Ow!"

"So how did you meet?" I asked.

Anne sighed. "Bullies."

Dylan helped Anne up. "We found these idiots picking on and hurting her, so we helped her."

I smiled. "Like knights in shining armor."

"I wouldn't call ourselves that." Dylan shrugged. "More like-"

"Angels? Strong warriors?" Chase grinned.

"Good Samaritans." As we helped carry the boxes back to the ski lodge, Dylan asked Anne, "Hey, remember the things we used to do together when we were kids?"

Anne smiled. "I could never forget."

"Remember the time Chase got stuck in that garbage can?" Dylan snickered.

Anne snickered. "Oh yeah. Chase stunk for the rest of the day after that!"

I giggled at this. Chase groaned as Nick, Tess, Luke, and Matt laughed.

"I think we all must stink pretty badly." Matt said.

Tess nodded. "I'd murder for a hot shower."

"Is there running water here?" I asked.

Matt shook his head. "We've got power from the wind turbine, but no running water."

It was then Emily poked her head out the door. "Dinner's ready." We set the boxes down and headed in. I was ready to eat anything. Most of us were sitting at two long tables eating whatever Walt had cooked up. I looked around trying to decide who to sit with. Anne waved to me from her table, where Luke, Emily, Sarah, Rebecca, Nick, Alvin, Tess, and Carlos were sitting.

I then looked over at Kenny's table, where he sat with Walter, Sarita, Matt Chase, and Dylan I then joined the table with Anne, Luke, Emily, Sarah, Rebecca, Nick, Alvin, and Carlos. Clem sat at the table with Kenny, Walter, Sarita, Chase, and Dylan.

"So, what do you guys make of that Kenny guy?" Luke asked to us softly.

I shrugged. "He seems like an okay guy."

"I heard he lost his family." Carlos whispered.

"That's horrible!" Sarah gasped softly.

Luke looked back at Kenny as he spoke with Clementine. "You think he'll let us stay long enough?" he asked us.

"I hope so. I don't want to be kicked out with Carver out there." Alvin said.

"I still don't know who this Carver is, but if I had any money, I'd bet my bottom dollar he's someone I wouldn't want to run into in a dark alley." I said.

Rebecca looked at me. "You'd win that bet."

"Do you think... he's still following us?" Sarah asked nervously.

Carlos took a bite of his dinner before looking at his daughter. "I don't know, Sarah, but we can't take any risks. We might have to leave at dawn." he told her.

"Carlos, Bec's back can't take anymore." Alvin pointed out. "Hon, I'm fine." Rebecca insisted.

"Windrun can still carry you." I told her.

"I don't need a ride." Rebecca said.

"Even if it means Alvin will stop worrying about you?" I teased.

"Hey!" Alvin said.

I smiled. "Sorry. All the hay I had got eaten by Windrun."

That got a few laughs from people. However, Anne ended up choking on her food while laughing, so she had to pound on her chest to regain her breathing. "I'm good." she wheezed.

Nick still looked a bit depressed as he ate his peaches and beans. Walter and Sarita left their places, and Luke and Nick went over and took them. I guess they wanted to talk to Kenny a bit. I decided to head over to Kenny's table with Anne. I took a seat next to Chase. There was an awkward silence between all of us before Kenny finally spoke, "Hope you like the food."

"Huh? Oh, yeah... it's great." Luke nodded.

"Peaches and beans. Great for nutrition. Not too great on the way out though, I tell ya." Kenny laughed at his joke. Clem gave him a disgusted look while Chase smiled.

"If the smell could kill walkers, I wouldn't complain." I said. I looked around the table as I said that. I could tell Anne was a bit grossed out by Kenny's joke, but Nick had a hint of a smile.

"So, it's Luke... and Nick. Luke and Nick. Boy, you two sure look like a match." Kenny joked. The two men looked at him. I could see Anne, Dylan, and Chase hiding their amused smiles. I couldn't help but smile at Luke and Nick's reactions as well.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick asked.

Kenny shrugged. "I'm just saying you two are good friends, that's all."

"Hate to break the news to you, but I think Tess and Nick are together." Anne said.

I decided to change the subject. "So, are you and Clem old friends?" I asked Kenny. "I apologize if that's rude, but outside that was the impression I got."

"We were in a group back when it all started. We lost some people... but..." he trailed off, looking a bit sad, but quickly snapped out of it. "I got separated from them after a while, but what do ya know? Clem was with you guys."

"I'm glad you two found each other again." I told them.

Kenny smiled. "Thanks." I looked at Clem, and she had a smile too.

"So what was your plan here? Hold out for the winter?" Luke asked.

"Actually, we were thinking of moving on, heading up north. Ever heard of a place called Wellington?" Kenny asked us.

I shook my head. "Afraid not."

"Wellington? The heck is that?" Luke asked. Only he didn't say heck.

"A place." Kenny said a little crossly.

"What kind of place?"

"A good one, Einstein."

Clem looked up. "Christa and I were going there."

"Who's Christa?" Chase asked.

"Supposed to be a big camp up near Michigan." Kenny explained, ignoring Chase's question.

"Michigan?" I asked.

"You got a hearing problem, kid? Yeah, Michigan." Kenny said crossly. "Think about it. Fresh water, lots of land, and cold winters, so the walkers get slow." He painted a picturesque scene. He said a word that I won't repeat.

Nick scoffed. "Sounds like buckshot." Only he didn't say buckshot.

Now Kenny looked mad. "Listen, Vanilla Ice, I don't know what your deal is, but you're more than welcome to take off in the morning."

"Well that'd be just fine by me." Nick said.

"Wellington does sound like a good place." I said, trying to bring peace back to the table. "And if there's a chance of safety from the walkers, I say we take it."

"Now that's the spirit." Kenny said.

"I wouldn't believe everything ya hear if I were you." Anne said to Kenny.

"Ye of little faith." I said. "Besides, where's your sense of adventure?"

"My sense of adventure doesn't involve me chasing after Atlantis." Anne responded. However the conversation started to get out of control.

"So, Clem, whaddya say about Wellington?" Kenny asked her. I was kind of curious to see if this place existed.

"Well that was where Christa and I were headed..." Clem said.

"Still think it's a load of-" Nick began.

"What's the deal with these guys, Clem?" Kenny asked. Nick said something I will not repeat.

"It's fine, Nick. We're not stayin'." Luke said. I noticed Dylan seemed shocked as he looked at Anne.

I rose an eyebrow at this as Kenny kept talking to them. "That's alright, cause Clem will go with us. Right, Clem?" Kenny asked her.

Luke was surprised. "What?"

"She's stayin' with us." Kenny told him. Clementine looked unsure of what to say. "I don't want to leave these guys behind." she told him.

"Why can't we all go together?" I asked. "I don't think we really have a destination in mind, and I would like to try and find this Wellington."

"I'm not traveling with him." Nick gestured to Kenny.

"And I'm okay with that." Kenny retorted.

Anne seemed exasperated at the antics, as was I, but then she noticed that Dylan was looking at her with that same shocked expression. "What?"

"Gentlemen, please. There's no need for this." Walter said as he came back. "Now look, we've all had a long day. Please, eat."

"Yeah, no one likes arguments during dinner time." Chase agreed.

I resumed eating my food

"So, Clair. How long have you been with these guys?" Kenny suddenly asked me.

I was taken aback by the question, but I answered, "Well... about a week and a half, actually. I left, but they bumped into Anne, Windrun, and I when we were in the woods."

"What kind of a name is Windrun?" Kenny asked me.

I smiled. "It was the only thing he'd respond to."

"Sounds weird if you ask me." Kenny said.

"Kenny!" Sarita scolded.

"What? It's a weird name."

"Like I said, he'd only respond to it." I repeated.

"And he runs like the wind. Trust me." Anne added. I smiled at her comment.

"Not to mention he likes licking your face." I teased.

"Ha ha." Anne muttered sarcastically.

"Seriously?" Chase asked. I nodded. He laughed at that. Anne shot him a dirty look.

"So, where you from?" Kenny asked me.

I looked down. "I don't know."

"Whaddya mean you don't know?" Kenny asked.

"She doesn't know, alright?" Anne told him.

"What, she forget or something?" Kenny pushed on. "Come on, kid, you seriously can't forget where you're from. Do you remember?" The music playing in the background changed. There was something… eerie about it. It brought feelings of terror back to me, like it was the music that things that go bump in the night listen to. My muscles started to tense, and my heart began to beat in fear.

I felt a headache coming on as I thought of this. "I... I don't know..."

"Kenny, maybe you shouldn't-" Clem tried to tell him.

"Clem, it's fine. I know what I'm doing." Kenny said before turning back to me. "Come on. I know you know. Just try to think about where you and your parents were..."

While they were talking I looked at my peaches and beans. All of a sudden two peach slices changed to creepy yellow eyes. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!" I screamed as I hit my bowl, causing it to spill on the floor. My headache had been building up, and was now unbearable. I fell over and everything went black.

* * *

Anne's POV

"What the- CLAIR!" I exclaimed as Luke and I caught her as she fell back. Her face looked like she was suffering from some sorta migraine. I glared at Kenny, who just sat there with confusion. "What?" he asked.

"She's suffering from amnesia and you just made her go through another episode." Luke told him with a frown. Amnesia? Why didn't she tell me that?

"Amnesia?" Kenny asked before swearing.

"Best we can come up with is something traumatic must've happened in her past that caused her to forget everything." Carlos explained. "Trying to force her to remember causes this to happen."

Kenny was shocked. "I-I had no idea."

"That's awful." Clem said.

Tess looked at him. "Is there a way to help her?"

"I don't know. This is the strangest case of amnesia I've ever seen." Carlos replied. "The symptoms are odd. Whenever something that sounds familiar to her is brought up, she gets a headache, but then if it gets out of hand, she passes out."

"What the heck kind of amnesia is that?" I asked with confusion.

"A kind that is new." Carlos responded. "In all my years I never encountered her case before."

"You sure she's not bit?" Kenny asked.

Emily stood up. "Of course we're sure!"

Chase got up from where he was sitting and walked over to us. "Relax, Kenny. No bite could make someone pass out like that."

"We've checked her for bites. She doesn't have any." Emily told Kenny.

"Is there a way to help her?" I asked Carlos.

"I don't know." He answered me. "Just avoid anything that might relate to the past."

I looked at her. What on Earth is wrong with you? I sincerely hope that there is a way to help you.

Chase then helped me pick her up. "C'mon, Annie. Help me carry her to that couch." he requested.

As we did, the others went elsewhere to talk about something or rest.

"So where do you think she comes from?" Chase asked me.

"I actually have no idea." I replied to my old friend as we sat down, keeping an eye on Clair.

Chase looked at her. "This is going to sound crazy, but she was in a dream I had."

My eyes widened at this. "What kind of dream...?" I asked him cautiously.

"It had some sort of monsters in it with her fighting them off." he replied.

"I had the exact same dream!" I gasped.

Chase stared at me. "No way."

"Way." I said.

Chase looked around. "Dylan had the same dream too. He told me when I was describing it to him."

"Strange that we had the exact same dream, and it featured those creepy monsters." I told him. I looked back at the unconscious Clair. "The Heartless, I think that's what they're called, seemed to be after her in the dream. But why?"

"I don't know, but I got a feeling we're not going to like the answer." Chase said.

* * *

 **And the plot thickens. Why is it that some had this mysterious dream, but not others? You'll have to keep reading to find out.**

 **And I've noticed that some of you have been asking in reviews if any Disney or Kingdom Hearts characters will make some cameos. I have some ideas, but if you've got some, I'd like to hear them. Either post in the reviews or send me a note and I'll get back to you.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you all for your patience. I passed my finals and will be graduating this week. I'm working on getting the next chapter of Iron Man: Making a Hero ready as well as getting ready to post Kingdom Hearts: Journey of Discovery Final Mix up, so be on the lookout for those. In the meantime, enjoy this chapter.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 15

Clair's POV

I must've been dreaming. No, it was a nightmare. Those monsters, they were chasing me. They were more organized. There was no end to them. They seemed to be going on forever. All I did was keep running.

I then stopped. I found myself staring at a herd of walkers. They seemed to be as endless as the Heartless that were chasing me. And they were coming towards me. I looked around. There was no way through. I was surrounded. By Heartless and walkers.

"It's alright. I have not left you." A voice said. It was gentle, yet powerful at the same time. It made me feel safe, and I could feel power in the voice. It carried authority, more than anything I could remember. Before I knew it the walkers and Heartless had vanished and I was just standing in a field.

This field… it looked familiar. I tried to remember where, but I couldn't. Yet I could feel like I ran around here before… a long time ago. There were others… but who were they?

"Clair, danger is coming. You must wake up. Warn the others. Get away from that lodge now. Wake up. WAKE UP!" Those last words weren't loud, but it felt like the entire world heard them. I glimpsed an elk before I found myself on a couch.

I sat up, panting. It was dark. I couldn't see anyone else around, but even if they had been I could tell something was wrong. I got up. I needed to find the others. They had to know…

I heard cawing. I looked out between the boards, and saw a flock of crows flying overhead. I heard people swearing outside. The crows were what worried me. When I heard that cawing my heart filled with dread and I remembered my dream. I don't know why, but I knew we couldn't ignore my dream. We had to leave. Now!

I ran towards the entrance, grabbing my weapons from the bench. I burst through the doors, seeing a large portion of the group around the wind turbine. It was blowing out of control. They must be trying to get it to stop.

"Bad enough the turbine's out of control, those dang birds are going to lead every walker here!" Dylan said. Only he didn't say dang.

"Guys." I said as I caught up to them.

Anne looked around. "Clair! You're awake!"

"We need to leave. Now." I said.

Tess looked at me. "Leave? What are you…?"

"There's no time to explain." I said. "Trust me. We have to leave. Now!"

I heard the wind turbine slowing down. I saw Clem was standing back from the control panel. She must've found a way to shut the thing down. I looked around to see Windrun running off into the woods. I soon realized why he was gone.

Growling was coming from the woods. Walkers were coming our way. Good thing my bow and arrows were ready to use. Everyone started pointing their guns at the dead.

"We don't have a lot of ammunition." Carlos said.

"We gotta get back to the lodge." Nick agreed.

Chase turned around. "They're behind us!" We all looked to see that it was true. Walkers were coming up behind us. Everyone began shooting walkers in the head. I added my arrows to the onslaught.

I saw Clem run off towards the lodge. I started after her, but a walker snuck up on me. There was a bang and it fell dead. I turned to see Tess had placed a bullet in its skull.

"More incoming." She said as she grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the lodge. However I saw Chase and Dylan surrounded by walkers. I broke free of Tess's grasp and ran towards them. Pulling out my knife and tomahawk I buried each of them in the skull of a walker. The others were turning on me, but Chase and Dylan pulled out their knives and used those against the walkers.

I heard Anne struggling. I turned to see a walker was really close to biting her nose off. As soon as he saw Dylan ran over to help her. I started to go, but I tripped and fell. I soon realized a walker had grabbed my ankle, and was trying to pull me closer to its mouth. I kicked it away, and struggled to pull my ankle free. Chase came to the rescue and buried his knife in its head.

There was another walker coming up on us. Chase pulled out his gun and was going to shoot it. However all we heard was a click. Chase swore at that. I slugged him for that.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"Language." I said.

He rose an eyebrow. "You're worried about that now?"

I took my tomahawk and threw it at the walker. The blade buried itself in the skull, causing the walker to fall back. As I pulled my weapon out, I heard gunshots from the woods. I turned to see people with rifles were rapidly shooting the walkers, taking them all out. As they approached us I got the feeling that we were in worse trouble than with the walkers.

The leader was a man with a brown coat with fur lining. He had dark hair with a matching moustache, and a triumphant look on his face. Something about him made me feel uncomfortable. Tess's eyes widened when she saw him.

"You." She growled, pointing her gun at him. To my surprise she pulled the trigger. All we heard was a click. "Shoot." She said. Only she didn't say shoot.

As he got closer my eyes widened. Emily was with them, and beside her was a boy close to our age. He had dark hair and was wearing sunglasses. Kind of strange when it was dark outside.

"Howdy, folks." The man said in a gravely voice. His men surrounded us and pointed their guns at us. I looked at Emily for an explanation. She looked at me with an apologetic look. The man approached Carlos. "Where's Rebecca?" Carlos responded by spitting in his face.

The man wiped it off. "It's nice to see you too." Right after he said that he hit him. I heard the doors open, and Sarah came out and hugged Carlos. I got the feeling I knew who this man was, but I felt better asking.

"Who is he?" I asked Anne.

She growled at him. "That's the man we've been running away from. That's Carver."

Carver approached Tess and stroked her face. "Tess."

Tess slapped his hand away. "Don't you 'Tess' me! You've got some nerve showing up after what you did to my mother!"

"Is that anyway to treat your old man?"

I gasped. "You're Carver's daughter?"

Tess looked at me. "This wouldn't be such a shock if you thought to ask me in the first place!"

"Guess that makes us sisters." Emily said.

My jaw dropped. "Carver is your father?!"

Carver interrupted any further chat by pointing to the lodge. "Inside." This mean looking guy with a nasty face pointing his gun at us. A woman with red hair and a brown vest approached Walter.

Walter's eyes widened. "It's you."

The woman looked as if she was regretting this before frowning. "Keep movin."

"We gave you food and this is how you thank us?" Matt asked. The mean looking man hit him with his rifle.

"Shut up and move." He growled. Swear words omitted.

Matt shook his head. "You can't do thi—" A gunshot rang out and a hole appeared in Matt's forehead.

"NO!" Walt cried out as Matt's lifeless body fell to the ground.

"We can and we will." The mean man sneered.

Carver looked at him. "Troy. That's enough." He waved to his goons and we were pushed along. I remembered the camp where I found Windrun, and I got the feeling I was going to be in a much worse situation.

They marched us into the lodge. I prayed that Clem, Rebecca, and Alvin wouldn't be found, and that Kenny and Luke would help us out. The red haired woman whistled when she saw the inside.

"Look at this place." She said as we were forced to kneel on the ground. A couple of them kept their guns pointed at us. Emily looked at me apologetically as she took my weapons from me. All that I felt towards her were hurt, confusion, and betrayal.

"Can you believe this place, Bonnie?" One of the men in some sort of hat asked the red haired woman. "Power and everything. Lotta windows, though." Swear words omitted.

"Thinking about moving in?" I asked in anger. Emily made a motion of sliding her hand across her throat. I got the impression she was telling me to be quiet, but I didn't trust her right now. She was my first friend and now she's stabbed me in the back.

"Nah. It's huge. Bill's gonna hate it." The man answered me. He said a word that seems to be popular here, but something inside me said it meant something very bad. "The rest of them could be anywhere."

" _He can sit on a porcupine_." I thought to myself, but I didn't say it out loud. The mean guy, Troy, was looking like he was waiting for an excuse to shoot us like he shot Matt.

"How we gonna cover these guys and look for them too?" The man in the hat asked his comrades. Swear word omitted.

The guy in the sunglasses shrugged. "Dad's not leaving until we have Rebecca. She's the main reason we're here." He's related to Carver too?

"Johnny, Chris, cover those windows." Bonnie pointed to one side of the lodge. So the guy in the hat was Johnny and Carver's son was Chris. They headed over to the window and looked outside. I found myself wishing a walker would eat them.

Carver was busy looking around. He seemed like a hunter on the prowl, knowing his quarry was near but he wasn't sure where. I hated him. He just stood by and watched Troy kill Matt, and acted like it was no more tragic than squashing a bug. I wanted to tear his heart out with my bare hands.

He then marched right over to Carlos and pulled him away from us. To our shock he punched him in the stomach! "Dad!" Sarah called out as Carlos fell to the floor.

"Listen, I'm only gonna ask you once. Where's Rebecca?" Carver asked with fury written on his face.

Carlos responded by looking at his daughter. "Sarah, look at me. It's gonna be okay." Carver then grabbed Carlos's hand and pulled one of his fingers back, breaking it! Carlos screamed in pain while Sarah cried out for her father.

"Rebecca? Rebecca, our baby deserves to be raised in a place of safety." Carver called out. "I know you're out there. And Alvin. And Luke. And the girl. This is real simple. You want this over quick, you all play nice and show your faces."

"Don't hurt my dad! Please!" Sarah begged. I put an arm around her to comfort her as did Anne.

Dylan growled at Carver. "You son of a witch." Only he didn't say witch.

"Sarah, don't look! Just-just don't look!" Anne said in an effort to calm her down.

It didn't work.

"Just stop! Don't hurt my dad. Please." Sarah begged through sobs.

Carlos swore at Carver. "Shoot him! Somebody just shoot hi—" Carver grabbed his hair and held a knife to his throat!

Now Tess swore at Carver. "Stop it Dad! Just stop!"

"You never did listen." Carver growled to Carlos. I had to do something. Now.

"Stop! I'll tell you where they are!" I said. Everyone looked at me with shock.

Carver looked at me. "Go on."

"When the walkers were coming, we sent some of our group ahead to get away from them. The rest of us stayed behind to cover them. They're gone. Probably on the other side of the mountain by now." I lied. I hoped that he would buy it. However he doesn't seem like the type of guy who could be easily fooled.

Sure enough he hit Carlos and came over to me. He smirked before slapping me across the face. "You'd better think twice before lying to me again, young lady. I'll let Troy deal with you next time, and he's not as gentle as I am."

"This is gentle?" I asked with sarcasm. Troy then hit me with his rifle.

"Better not get sassy with me." Carver said.

"Stop! We're coming out." Rebecca's voice called out. I looked to see Alvin and Rebecca coming down the stairs towards us. Carver walked up to Rebecca and stroked her face. Rebecca responded by cussing at him. They were then marched over to us and forced on their knees. Each of them then tied our hands.

A gunshot rang out and Johnny then fell to the ground, dead. "Kenny!" Chase said. Carver however growled in anger and grabbed Walter. He then marched him out and shot him in the head!

"Walter!" Several of us, including me, cried out. He didn't deserve this! He didn't deserve to die!

Carver hid behind a pillar while holding his pistol. "That's for our man. Now I don't wanna do this, but you're leavin' me no choice. So here's what's gonna happen: I'm gonna march another one of your friends out here and I'm gonna put a bullet in the back of their head. Or you can give up now. Your choice."

The response he got was another gunshot. This one hit the pillar he was hiding behind. Curse you, Kenny. What are you thinking?

Carver walked back to us and grinned evilly at Alvin. "Hi, Alvin." He then picked up Alvin and started marching him over to where Walter laid dead.

"Bill, no!" Rebecca reached for Alvin, but Troy pointed his rifle at her. "Tell him to stop. Kenny, stop!"

"Remember George?" Carver asked while marching Alvin over. "You see, I do. I remember a guy that was your friend named George. I remember when you murdered him in cold blood. And why? Because you didn't like me? You could've lodged a complaint. You could've been civil."

"Bill, no! We'll do whatever you want! Just don't hurt him!" Rebecca begged.

Anne then did something I didn't expect. She ran up towards Carver. I think she was hoping to tackle him and knock him to the ground. However Carver saw her coming and hit her in the chest with his pistol. Anne then fell backwards, coughing, groaning, and swearing.

Carver then threw Alvin down and grabbed her! "Not a smart move, Anne." He said as he marched her to the window and pointed his pistol at her temple!

"No! Not her!" Tess screamed.

"Let her go!" Dylan roared. He also swore, but I'm not repeating it.

I couldn't stand by and let my friends get killed one by one. I had to do something. But what? I couldn't reach the knife I still had without someone noticing, and by the time I did there was no way I could throw it and hit Carver.

Despite my fears I felt something inside of me. It was warm. It was light. It was like all the anger and hate I was feeling was being replaced by something good. As I watched the angel at the top of the tree suddenly flew off and hit Carver in the head. He swore as he lost his grip on Anne. She tried to run, but Chris stopped her by pointing his rifle at her.

"We're coming out." I heard Kenny call out. I watched through the window as they came towards the lodge with their hands held up in the air. Bonnie kicked open the doors and aimed her rifle at them.

"Let's go." She said as Kenny and Clem were marched inside and forced beside us. Their hands were also tied. Great. Now we were all prisoners.

"Where's Luke?" Carver asked us. When no one answered he smiled. "Finally cut and run, huh? Why am I not surprised? I warned you. I warned you not to follow him. And look where he's led you. But you're safe now. We're going home. As a family."

"You and I have very different definitions on what a family is." I said. Troy hit me again with his rifle.

"Troy. Knock it off." Emily said.

Troy looked at her. "I hear one more thing out of her mouth I'll knock her teeth out." He swore too.

"She doesn't understand yet. Give her time and she'll come around."

Fat chance of that.

"All right. Round em up. We're headin' back to camp." Carver ordered. One by one we were forced to our feet and marched outside. They led us down the mountainside, and I was sure we were going to run into walkers somewhere. However we didn't. They led us to a truck and opened the back. I then realized they were going to cage us like animals.

The others were loaded first one by one. It was then I realized I was at the back of the line. A crazy idea popped into my head. It was risky, but if I didn't act who knows what would happen? I had no intention of going to their camp. Something snapped inside of me, and the next thing I knew I was hitting Chris in the stomach with my head. He doubled over and fell back. I turned to see the others pointing their guns at me.

I felt a sharp pain in the side of my head. I fell to the ground and looked to see Troy standing over me. He grabbed me and pulled me up. However as soon as I was close enough I threw my head back and hit him in the face. He swore and let go. I jumped so my bound hands were now in front of me. I then turned and ran into the forest.

Don't worry everyone. I'll find a way to get you out of there. I'm not going to abandon you. One way or another, I will free you. And I will stop Carver.

* * *

 **There were some Disney references in this chapter. Can anyone spot them?**

 **And in case you were wondering, Chris Carver is the OC of Chris Carver, used with his permission.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Figured I may as well post this one now.**

 **I do not own Kingdom Hearts and/or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

* * *

Chapter 16: The Hunt Begins

Clair's POV…

Once I was sure I was far enough from Carver I reached into my boot and pulled out my other knife. Flipping the blade over I began to saw through the ropes holding my wrists together. It felt so good when the last one fell away and I had free use of my hands again. I then looked towards the lodge.

It seemed gloomy now that the power was out and from remembering what happened. Matt. Walt. They didn't deserve to be murdered in cold blood like that. I was going to have Carver's head for that. I looked at the knife that was still in my hand. I decided I would use that to end Carver's life as soon as I saw him again.

Something brushed against me. I turned, raising the knife in case a walker was trying to jump me. However I stopped myself when I saw it was just Windrun. I hugged his face as I stroked him. "I'm glad you're okay, boy. You escaped from the walkers and Carver." As I looked down I noticed Windrun's hooves had blood on them. Did he fight the walkers?

Windrun looked towards the lodge. "We gotta salvage what we can, and then go after our friends." I told him. I swear Windrun's eyes agreed with me on everything. He is one smart horse.

He began walking towards the lodge. We stepped carefully over the remains of the walkers. I could see all of them had holes in their heads, but I still didn't feel comfortable around them. I probably won't be comfortable until they were nothing but a pile of ashes. At least ashes can't bite you.

I stopped at Matt's body. His face still had the shocked expression, as if realizing too late that those maniacs were willing to murder in cold blood. I closed his eyes for him. I noticed he had a knife attached to his belt. I picked it up and unsheathed it. It was bigger than mine, and was made of metal. Someone might be able to use this, like Sarah. Or Clem. Anyway, it'll be better than being defenseless.

I also picked up Matt's rifle. Tess might want it later, and who knows how we're doing on ammunition. Thank goodness Carver left this behind. Windrun just kept moving to the lodge so I had to pick up the pace to follow him.

He didn't bother to wait outside. He just walked in like he owned the place. Well, it wasn't like anyone was here to stop the horse. I looked at the bench where most of our stuff was still sitting. Everyone might want these back. I grabbed the packs and began putting them on Windrun's back.

He just looked at me with a deadpan expression. He's right. I'm going to need something to tie the stuff onto him so it won't fall off. I began to look around. Hopefully there was rope here somewhere. The kitchen was the closest so I started there. I opened all the cabinets I could. I just found eating utensils and canned food. Well, the food will be useful later. But it won't do me any good if I can't find a way to keep them from falling off Windrun's back.

I then headed to the back. Hopefully someone remembered to stockpile supplies before everything went downhill. I opened a closet and jumped as a broom fell out. I looked inside and almost shouted with joy. There was some rope here! I grabbed it and went back to Windrun. He looked at me as I put the rope on him and began tying the packs to him.

"There's some food too that we can take." I told him. "We're going to need it." Windrun looked at me as if to tell me that he couldn't carry everything. I nodded in agreement. "Just snort when you feel like you have enough." He then looked away and I went back to get the canned food. I started to load them into the packs when I noticed Clem's was open. There was a torn photo inside, and I ended up pulling it out and looking at it.

It was a man, about thirty-six I think. Was this Clem's father? No, he couldn't be. There wasn't a resemblance between them. Still, he must've meant something if she kept a photo of him. I replaced the photo as I put some of the cans in her pack. Hopefully she won't mind. I then looked over Windrun. It seems like we have everything, so why do I feel like something was missing?

Windrun backed up a bit. I started to grab him, but he kept looking forward. I turned to see a little raccoon on the railing. I raised my eyebrow. How did that thing get in here? It chittered and then climbed up the railing. Windrun nudged me forward. I looked at him and he nudged me again.

"Okay, okay. I'm going." I said. As I headed to the stairs I saw where my bow and arrows, tomahawk, and knife had been set aside. Guess Carver didn't think they'd be useful. I grabbed them and put them on my back and belt. I was going to need them soon.

I then looked at the Christmas tree. It seemed so sad now, with the lights off and everyone gone. It was just starting to feel good too. I took a quick look at the angel that was lying on the ground. How did it get off the tree like that? It couldn't have fallen off. Not when Carver was so far from it. It was almost like someone threw it, but there was no one else in the lodge.

I looked to see the raccoon was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Why? Why wasn't it running away from me? I headed up the stairs, a little worried it might attack. It didn't. When it saw I was following, it turned and began walking. I was convinced it was leading me somewhere.

It headed towards the rooms where Sarita said we could spend the night. That seemed like ages ago. I opened them one by one. Each of them was empty except for the furniture. That is, except where Anne was staying. I stopped when I saw the raccoon go in. There must be something in there. Cautiously I crept forward.

When I opened the door I gasped. The raccoon was gone. Vanished into thin air. I looked around the room, but it was nowhere to be seen. What was going on?

I then noticed something propped against the wall. It was Anne's guitar. But why would I come up here for it? Could it be something important to her? Well, she was taking the trouble to lug it everywhere even when walkers are chasing her. I picked it up and resolved to take it with me.

As I headed back down the stairs I looked to see where Walt was lying dead. Pain racked my heart. He didn't deserve that. He just didn't. I headed over to him and knelt beside him. "I'm sorry, Walt. I'm sorry I couldn't save you." I then closed his eyes before adding, "But I promise I'm going to find the man who murdered you and make him pay."

I felt a nudge as I stood up. I turned to see Windrun had a bag of something in his mouth. I opened it to see it was full of medicine. I stroked him on his snout. "Good work. We're going to need these." I then put the medicine and Anne's guitar on his back. He then snorted. I guess that was that. I looked back at Walt's body. Was there time to give him and Matt a burial?

I then saw movement from the trees. I groaned as I saw walkers coming. Must've been attracted to the wind turbine. At least they weren't approaching the lodge. Still, couldn't wait around for them to notice there was an all-you-can-eat buffet in here.

I swung myself onto Windrun's back. He then kicked the doors open as we ran out into the night. One of the walkers, someone who used to be a woman, noticed us and came towards us. Windrun just reared up and knocked her back with his hoof. I heard her skull crack but the horse was not done. He then stomped onto the head, crushing it. That takes care of that one, but the others were noticing us.

"Let's go." I said. Windrun reared again and took off down the road, passing the walkers. I could still see the tire tracks from Carver's truck. I gripped Windrun's mane tightly. You'd better watch out Carver. I'm coming to get my friends back.

And I'm coming for you.

* * *

 **Oh, and as a reward, anyone who spots the Disney reference in the last chapter will get to have their say of a Kingdom Hearts and/or Disney reference in a future chapter.**


	17. Chapter 17

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 17

Anne's POV

I don't know how I fell asleep in the back of a moving truck with nothing to rest my head on, but I did. I just remember resting against the side of the truck, and shutting my eyes. I didn't expect to fall asleep, or to even dream. Yet I did.

I dreamt of Savannah, which I hadn't seen since my family went on vacation there a long time ago. It was horrible. The dead were everywhere. All the streets were crowded by an insane amount of walkers. If there were survivors in that city, they must surely be dead now. No one could survive such a herd.

I realized I was on top of a roof. The river was to my right while I was looking at a building called The Marsh House. My family and I used to stay there… wait. That's odd. The river. It's going down. Why is the water receding like that? It doesn't make sense. Of course the walkers aren't taking notice.

What surprised me was when I saw the water coming back, like a tidal wave. The water surged over the banks and through the streets of Savannah. The walkers were caught up in the wave, and I could see their blood mixing in with the water. Good. Several less to deal with.

The building suddenly shook. I nearly lost my balance. Then it shook again and I fell on my butt. I was about to swear when I saw something rising out of the water. I couldn't even find the right words to say. All I could do was stare in horror at the thing that was coming.

It was huge. That was all I could remember. It towered over the buildings of Savannah, and I couldn't see all of whatever it was. It had scales, that much I remember. It plowed its way through several buildings like they were made of nothing. I heard a lot of clanging as several bells fell from their towers into the buildings and flooded streets below.

Of course that attracted walkers. I could hear the ones that didn't get washed away making their way towards this thing. That's when I remembered seeing this light. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it was followed by this intense heat. In my dream it hurt so much I woke up gasping for breath, sweat clinging to my shirt.

"Anne?" I turned at the sound of Dylan's voice. "Are you okay?"

I shakily nodded. "Y-yeah. Just a bad dream."

"I think that's something we all have now." He sighed. "I can't remember the last time I had a good dream."

My hands were still tied, so I couldn't wrap them around my legs. My guitar was gone so I couldn't play that. Probably a good thing it was left behind because Carver probably would've chopped it up and used for firewood. I heard Dylan move closer to me.

"Anne… I understand if you're angry with me for leaving, but I'm sorry. I had no choice. There wasn't a day that went by where I didn't think of you."

I didn't answer him. How could I? I trusted him and Chase, and when I needed them the most they weren't there. How could they understand my pain? I carried grudges, but this time… for some reason it left a bitter taste in my mouth, like I had bitten a walker. Gross, but that's what came to my mind.

I turned to look at Dylan. "We need to get out. Quick."

"I agree. But there's not much we can do tied up with crazy mercenaries watching our every move."

"Then it's a good thing there are two out there who can help us."

* * *

Clair's POV

I knelt down to observe the tracks. The van came this way. Looks like a steady course to… wherever. At least the ground wasn't dry. That'll make tracking Carver and his men easier. I just hope that there wasn't another car in these woods that someone was using. I did not need to do any retracing.

Windrun nudged me. I stroked his snout. "Thanks for keeping us on track." I told him. Yeah, I had fallen asleep while riding him, but he managed to keep us on the trail. Poor thing must be exhausted, but he refused to rest. He seemed just as eager to get our friends back as I was.

We walked together as we followed the trail. I needed to be able to keep checking for signs on the ground, and I didn't want to exhaust Windrun anymore than he already was. He was all I had right now, until I got my friends back, or I ran into Luke, which I hoped was soon. I hated being out here in the woods alone. For some reason I had the feeling that any minute I could get my arm chewed off by a walker.

There were some other cars, but they were completely wrecked. The windows were smashed in, and rust was everywhere. Some had doors that had been torn off their hinges. I did look in some of them. There were pictures left of families who used to own them. Pain filled my heart as I passed them. How many of these people did this nightmare destroy? How many husbands and wives find themselves watching someone they loved die? How many children became orphans because of these events?

Tears fell from my eyes. I found myself wondering again who was I? Why couldn't I remember anything about my past? Did I have a family that I lost because of this plague? What caused me to have amnesia? Were any walkers out here people I knew?

So many questions, and no one to give me answers. I continued to walk on, following the trail that would lead me to Carver's hideout. I knew that there were people I trusted, and they were counting on me to rescue them. I would not let them down. They welcomed me into their group, and they were all I had. I wasn't going to lose them.

I heard a scream. Windrun noticed too and snorted. Quickly I got on his back and we ran off the trail into the woods. I couldn't bring myself to leave someone in trouble. There were plenty of people who would do that now. That I had no doubt of.

After several minutes I came across an awful sight. A man and a woman were surrounded by Heartless. The same kind that attacked me, Nick, and Luke before. The man appeared to be of the same ethnicity as Carlos and Sarah, except he was missing his left hand. Instead he had a hook there now. He was also dressed in a heavy navy blue jacket with a hunting vest over it. He also hard dark denim pants on.

The woman looked more like Alvin, Rebecca, and Clem's ethnicity. She had her hair done in dreadlocks and was dressed in an orange snowjacket. She also had on faded jeans. She carried some sort of rifle and was firing at the Heartless. However, the bullets just went through them, and did nothing to slow those things down.

The woman swore. "What are these things?"

"Who cares? Just shoot them!" The man told her. The Heartless moved closer to them. That was it. I drew my bow and notched an arrow. I pulled the string back and let the arrow fly. It pierced the Heartless right through its chest, and for some reason managed to kill it. The Heartless turned to look at me.

I quickly drew another arrow and fired. This one had the same result. I don't know why my arrows are suddenly effective against these things. All I knew was I had to protect these people. However, after another Heartless was destroyed the rest fled. For some reason that felt really strange.

The man and the woman looked at me. "Thank you for saving us." The woman said. "I'm Josephine, and this is my husband Cyrus."

"I'm Clair."

"What was that thing?" Cyrus asked. "It definitely wasn't a walker."

I looked at them. "Heartless."

"Heartless?" Cyrus asked, crossing his arms.

"Things that have been chasing me for some reason." I would've told them more, but I wasn't sure of anything else myself. How could I tell them there was a nutjob that was in control of them?

"Still, thanks for saving us." Josephine nodded.

I nodded. "I did what anyone would've done."

"No one helps anyone anymore."

I had just been about to ride off, but at that I turned Windrun around. "What?! Are you serious?!"

Josephine nodded

"Why?" I asked.

"Mostly, there are bandits out there trying to steal what little supplies people have." Josephine explained. "We've been dealing with several bandits now. Thankfully, you're not one of them."

"Where have you been for the last two years?" Cyrus asked.

"I wish I knew." I said.

"What do you mean?" Josephine asked.

I sighed. "I can't remember anything. My past is completely gone."

"I'm sorry." Josephine. "Still, we thank you for your kindness. It's rarely seen these days."

I nodded. "Glad I could help." I then turned Windrun and we started to leave.

"Wait. Please let us repay you." Josephine said.

Windrun paused and I looked back at them.

"We have shelter. And food."

I wasn't sure how to respond to that. I had to find the others... "I appreciate the offer, but I have to decline." I said. "My friends were kidnapped and I have to find them. This man named Carver took them."

"Carver? The leader of the bandits at that hardware store?"

I looked at them. "Hardware store? Where?"

"We have a map back at our place."

"You know him?" I asked.

"We've crossed paths."

"He kidnapped my friends a while ago. He seemed really determined to take them back to his place."

"Well, we can help you get in." Josephine said.

"How?"

Cyrus smiled. "The *bleep* thinks we're an outpost for him."

I glanced at him. "Swear."

"Sorry. The point is, we don't though." Cyrus said. "We hate that man's guts."

"What's he done to you?" I asked.

"It's what he's done to others we hate." Josephine said. "The man's a control freak. Doesn't take insubordination."

I could tell he was. By the way he was obsessed about capturing my friends and taking them with him...

"We can help you get in."

I nodded. "You convinced me."

Cyrus smirked. "Glad we did."


	18. Chapter 18

**Sorry for the delay. My laptop wouldn't let me upload these chapters for some reason, so I had to go to a public computer instead. And about the person who left the review asking why I wasn't including profanity, it's still in here. I just don't write out the words. I change them around. For example, dang = damn, and fudge = ... well, you get the idea.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 18

Anne's POV

We were all still tied up in the back of the truck. I looked around the van, which was dark and made it hard to see. I could make out Dylan next to me, though. Chase tried to get his restraints off, even by trying to push them off with his feet, only to whack himself in the face with his own hands by accident.

I struggled to get my own restraints off, with no such luck. Kenny then groaned. "Why did Carver capture us since he came after you guys?"

I looked at him. "How the heck should I know? Could be cause we were with them." I mumbled. We then hit a bump on the road and we nearly lost our balance, but sat back up again.

Sarah was staring down at her lap.

I glanced back at Dylan, remembering what he told me earlier.

Dylan glanced at me. "You worried?"

"Yeah..." I remembered that dream I had a while ago. What did it mean? I tried to keep the details fresh.

It was then I felt the truck jerk to a halt. I fell on my side. "Whoa!" I struggled to get up as the doors opened.

I looked up, seeing Troy's gruff face. "Who needs to take a leak?" he asked us.

"I do." Sarah said.

"Get movin', then." Troy sneered. Something about that guy seemed rather foul.

I stuck my tongue at him.

"I don't want to go alone." Sarah said. "What if a walker's out there?"

Troy just glared at her.

"I'll go with her." Clem said.

I sighed. "So will I."

"Better make it quick." Troy spat as Sarah came out, followed by Clem, then me. Bonnie was standing guard, but she avoided our gazes. Emily came over and undid the ropes that tied our hands together.

I stared at Emily. "Traitor."

Emily just looked at me while I glared at her. Chris was also on guard

"Get moving!" Troy shoved me with his gun.

"Ow! Watch it!" I spat.

He glared at me.

"Troy, ease up." Emily said. "They're not prisoners of war."

Troy just ignored her. "Go on. And if any of you three try to escape, I'll shoot." he threatened us.

I cussed him as I walked with Clem and Sarah. Sarah went out to the woods while Clementine and I stayed behind. I crossed my arms and glanced down at my feet. I looked back the way we came. My guitar was gone now thanks to the G.I. Joe rejects. Man, I paid a good amount of money on that thing and went through a lot to make sure it wouldn't be destroyed! Now it's gone... great. Just great.

I kicked a rock. I then noticed a squirrel run across the road. It stopped to look at us before continuing. It disappeared into the bushes, though I swear it moved faster than when it first came out.

"Look." Clem said. I turned and saw there was a bug on the tree. Either a moth or a butterfly. I could never tell them apart.

"It's been a while since I saw one of those." I remarked to Clem.

She smiled. "It's like the apocalypse hasn't happened for them."

"They're lucky, then." I said. The butterfly then flew off. I then thought about Clair. And Luke. They're still out there. Were they gonna be okay? Especially with those Heartless running around? "I'm worried, Clem." I said. "Some friends are out there, and who knows what's happening to them."

"I think they made it out alright." Clementine told me just as Sarah came back.

"Thanks for coming with me." Sarah told us. "It's scary out there."

"We're friends. Friends do that." Clementine smiled at Sarah.

Troy then came to us. "Everything come out alright, girls?" he shrieks.

We all just glared at him. "Pervert." I growled at him.

He then made us walk back to the truck. Emily was standing next to Carver, who was talking into a radio. We had to get our wrists tied back up. Bonnie was being more gentle than Troy was. I glanced at Carver as he spoke into the radio.

"Well, we're on our way, probably thirty minutes out. Make sure everyone's prepped. Emotions might be running high. Carver out. Oh, and if I find out you've been wasting fuel to keep that heater going, I'll make you walk back." He looked at Troy.

"Nope. Froze by butt off. Just like you told me." Troy retorted.

Carver then noticed me staring at him. "It's not polite to listen to other people's conversations." I just glared at him. He frowned and approached me before back handing me across the face, sending me towards the ground. I heard Clem and Sarah gasp as I landed on the ground. My cheek stung. I could see Emily looked surprised while Chris looked at us.

"Don't test me, girlie. I win every time." Carver sneered at me.

"Leave my friend alone!" Sarah protested. He looked at her. Sarah then looked down at her feet. Bonnie helped me up and checked to see if there was a bruise.

A crow then flew over us, cawing. I heard something go splat, and noticed Carver's jacket had a white streak on it. He had a very annoyed look and swore. "You've gotta be kidding me." He shot after the bird, but missed. I swear the cawing sounded like laughter. It was like it was taunting him. He growled before looking at Troy, Bonnie, Emily, and Chris. "Get them in the truck."

"Guess Mother Nature doesn't like you." I said just to irk him. He glared at me before Troy opened the door and pointed his gun at us to prove his point. "In. Now."

We climbed inside. Dylan's eyes widened seeing me. "Anne? What'd he do to you?" He glared at Troy. "HEY!"

The door was already closed and we were surrounded by darkness. "I'm fine, Dylan." I told him.

"Then why is there a bruise on your face?"

I shook my head. "This is nothing." I insisted. Dylan didn't believe me. I avoided his gaze and glanced around. It felt like we were slaves being shipped off to plantations right now.

Clair... Luke... if you're out there, we need you.

please, hurry...

* * *

Clair's POV

Windrun trotted down the path as I rode on him with Josephine and Cyrus following me. It was relatively quiet. There wasn't any sign of walkers, Heartless, or any other types of enemies.

Josephine spoke up. "So Clair, you have any family?"

I blinked. "I... can't remember."

Josephine looked at me with surprise. "You can't remember?"

I shook my head. "No..."

"I'm sorry." Josephine said.

I looked at them. "Just how bad is Carver?"

"He's a freaking psychopath. He's a control freak." Cyrus listed. "All in all, he's a freak."

I didn't like the sound of that. I had to get them out. "What's his camp like?" I asked them.

"It's actually a prison." Josephine said.

"Carver keeps those he thinks are not trustworthy out in the cold in this old gardening area with only some shelves for beds and makes them work their butts off, even if they're young. He has this guards patrolling the place AND the prisoners with this guns. The guards act like he's the president or something." Cyrus frowned with disgust.

"I was thinking more like Doctor Doom without the powers." Josephine said.

Cyrus nodded. "Yeah, probably that."

I didn't like the sound of that. "I need to get them out of there. How much further away are we?" I added.

"We're getting close." Cyrus said. "Just how many are in your group?"

"About fourteen."

"That's a lot." Josephine said. "It'll be hard to get 'em out."

I looked ahead as we trudged down the trail. We would need to be careful. Who knows what could happen there...

* * *

Anne's POV

Kenny then spoke up. "Alright, y'all, we gotta do something. Anyone got anythin' sharp?"

"They took my knife." I said. "And our guns."

"We don't have anything." Carlos said.

"We could always try to chew through it with our teeth." Chase joked.

"You'll just give your tongue rope burn." Dylan retorted.

"At least I had an idea on what to do."

"Come on, people!" Kenny protested.

"Why didn't someone think to hide one somewhere?" I asked out loud. I got silence from that, so I banged my head on the back of the truck and swore.

Kenny was determined. "Clem, see if you can find anything sharp."

"Settle down, Kenny." Carlos frowned.

I looked at Carlos. "Are you crazy?"

"You have no idea what we're dealing with."

"Then enlighten us."

"You have no idea what Bill is capable of." Rebecca said.

"Bill? First it's Carver, Carver, Carver, now it's freaking Bill?" Kenny frowned. Only he didn't say freaking.

"Who cares what he's called? Let's just get outta here." I scooted to the side, and felt something. Hm? I looked. It looked as if a piece of metal was sticking out from the wall. "Hey, guys, check this out..." I gestured to it

Kenny lit up when he saw it. "Heck yeah! That's what we need." He got up and walked over to it, beginning to saw through the rope with it.

Not everyone was pleased. "Kenny, sit down. You're going to get us all killed." Carlos seethed.

"He's going to get us out." I said.

"And then what?"

"I dunno, but I'll think of something!" Kenny said. "I've been in this type of situation before. Y'all obviously haven't been prisoners to someone."

"We ALL are." Carlos retorted. Kenny finally got the ropes off.

"Now we're talkin'!" Kenny smirked.

I began to saw my ropes off. "We got one shot when those doors open so we need to make it count."

"Anne, sit down!" Rebecca said.

It was then there was a bump. Carlos looked up. "We're close..."

"What is WITH you people?!" Kenny asked.

"Carver is going to be on the other side of that door with ten people." Carlos frowned. Sarah started whimpering, so Rebecca attempted to comfort her. "There, there, baby... It's gonna be okay..."

"I ain't giving up." I growled.

Kenny smirked. "Someone's got the right idea."

Carlos sighed. "At this point, Luke and Clair may be the only hope we have left."

"If they were gonna do something, they woulda done it by now." Kenny scoffed.

"Who knows what they're dealing with out there." Rebecca added.

"If I waited for others to help me I'd be a walker right now." I said

"They abandoned us." Kenny frowned.

"Luke didn't abandon us." Rebecca frowned.

"Clair didn't, either." Sarah spoke up. I paused for a moment.

"She did before." Nick told her.

Sarah actually glared at him. "She was trying to protect us!" she snapped at him. We all stared at her with surprise.

"Sarah..." Carlos started to say, but Sarah wouldn't stop.

"We helped her! She will come back. She came before, and she will again."

"How can you be so sure?" Nick asked.

"I just do!"

"They won't abandon us." Clementine agreed.

I finished cutting myself free. Finally! Dylan moved to cut himself free.

"What're you guys gonna do? They have guns." Rebecca frowned.

"I'm gonna punch the first guy I see, then punch the next one!" Kenny said. To be honest he was swearing there, but saying what he said just doesn't feel right.

"Just sit down!" Carlos sighed.

"Shut it, Doc! This ain't your call!" Kenny spat.

"Stop fighting!" Clem said.

Kenny then turned to the door. "Okay, everyone re-"

Suddenly, the truck jerked to a halt. Kenny was rammed into the door while I just landed on the ground. "Kenny! Kenny, are you okay?" Sarita asked as she checked on him.

"Ow…" I moaned. Dylan and Chase checked on me.

"You okay?"

I sat up. "Yeah..."

Just then, the door opened up. There they were. Carver, Troy, and the others. "Alright, everybody up." A woman ordered. I glared at them.

"How 'bout you let us go?" I suggested.

Troy sneered. "Get out and you don't join the dead." We reluctantly got put. "What the- how'd you get your restraints off?! C'mere."

I stuck my tongue at him. He aimed his gun at me. I scowled before I reluctantly approached him. He forced me out of the truck, slamming the door shut behind us.

"Whoa!"

"Get your butt moving." He roughly grabbed me and retired my hands before shoving me forward.

I looked at the place they were forcing us into. This looks like some kinda large store... and the food. Dang, there was enough to feed an army.

Several guards glared down at us. I felt like a convict being taken to a maximum security prison, like Alcatraz or something. I saw Carver go up to some kind of office that looked down on us all as a PA came on. He started making some sort of announcement. "Attention, everyone..."

I hated his amplified voice.

"We've got some familiar faces back with us tongi the. As well as new."

"Look at that food..." Clementine awed

"Keep moving." Troy said.

I noticed Emily and Chris were with Carver. "Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we'd bring these people back when they left us as they did."

"I think I've got an idea." one of the guards, a woman, scoffed.

"Now, it might not come out all at once... But time will heal these wounds. So be patient with them until it does. And take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make our home a better place." Carver said.

"This will never be home." I muttered.

Tess glared up at them.

"All these feelings you have of anger... Betrayal...hate they're all valid. No one needs to forget what they did... But we do have to find it in our hearts to forgive them." Carver continued.

Tess cussed at him.

"As many of you already know… a large herd of lurkers gathers just south of us… we've kept an eye on…"

"Come on, we need you for something." Troy motioned for Carlos to follow him.

Carlos looked at him. "Can it wait until morning? We're all exhausted."

"Just come on." Troy did swear, but I'm leaving it out. Carlos ended up going with Troy, much to Sarah's surprise.

"I need him. I need my dad." Sarah begged. "I-I can't. He's… he looks after me."

Troy noticed some of us had stopped and motioned for us to keep moving. With great reluctance we moved on while Carver kept blabbering on. Someone shut him up please.

"He'll be back." Clem told Sarah.

"When?" She asked.

"I don't know. But he will come back."

I looked at her. "You gotta have faith, Sarah. Just like you believe Clair will come back, believe that your dad will come back."

"Weren't you saying earlier you don't trust people to come back?" She asked me.

Ouch.

"And with the added manpower joining us this evening I have no doubt that we will continue…" Carver was saying as we were brought to a door. Bonnie knelt down and unlocked it from the floor.

"Make sure y'all stay off the fence. Bill can see if you're messin' with it." She warned us. I glared at her but Carver was saying something else.

"It's no longer enough to survive… it's our obligation to make this community a beacon of hope… to provide a light… a bright light. Bright enough to shine in all this darkness. So that is what we'll do."

The bindings were removed from us who still had them. "Y'all best get some rest, 'cause there ain't gonna be much for you tomorrow. You're gonna be workin' hard."

"It doesn't matter how much work we do." I folded my arms. "Any place with Carver running it ain't no sanctuary."

Troy glared at me. Bonnie and Rebecca were talking, but I wasn't listening. I was determined to escape the first chance I got. Carver could bring in people and make them work as hard as he wanted, but this place would never be a beacon of light. If anything, it was a pit of darkness.

And I wasn't staying.

* * *

 **Some of you have been asking about the future of this story. I do plan to finish it. However, because this is an AU, things are going to be different than in the games. You'll see why as the story progresses.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 19

CLAIR'S POV

Night had long fallen. Cyrus and Josephine had gotten out flashlights so we could see. The trees were blocking the stars and the moon, so the light helped. I still sat on Windrun's back as he carried me. I let out a loud yawn. "Oh, excuse me. Guess I must be getting tired."

"That's alright. I'm pretty much tired nowadays." Josephine replied.

Windrun snorted. I gently stroked his neck.

"We'll be there soon." Cyrus said.

Josephine looked at him. "You've been saying that all day."

"Well, I'm certain that we'll be there soon." Cyrus replied.

"And I'm sure you'll say that again in the next hour." Josephine retorted.

I yawned again. "If we're not there soon I may fall asleep in the saddle."

Josephine shined her flashlight ahead. "Finally!"

I looked up at that. Thanks to the light, I could see something up ahead. It was a house. At least I'm sure it was. Reminded me a bit of the cabin Emily was at when we met.

"Ah, here we are..." Cyrus announced. "Welcome to Watchpoint."

"Watchpoint?" I asked.

"We had to call it something."

As we approached it, I climbed off of Windrun, while Josephine kept an eye out for any signs of danger as I did. There were some abandoned cars nearby, but they looked as if they were covered in rust, and were missing tires. They must have been there for a while. Were they using these for something?

"Well, come this way, and I'll give you the grand tour." Cyrus said.

I nodded and followed him. Josephine led Windrun away while we approached the front door. Cyrus pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

Some voices came from inside. "It's about time you and Josephine got back." I rose an eyebrow. Huh? Some other people came out, and one of them noticed me. "You brought a guest home?"

"Meet Clair. She'll be staying with us." Cyrus said.

I waved silently at the people, but they looked coldly at me. "Why'd you bring her here?"

"She got separated by her group because of Carver." Josephine informed them as she came up behind us. She must've put Windrun somewhere. "We're gonna help her get them back, but she needs a place to stay, though."

The guys shook their heads. "Put her with Christa."

I blinked. Christa? Something about that name rang a bell, but where did I hear it before? I thought about it, but nothing came to mind.

Josephine looked at me. "Guess you'll have a roommate tonight." She and Cyrus had me follow them up the stairs. Where were they taking me?

"We don't have a lot of guest rooms. Gotta keep stocked up on supplies and ammunition." Cyrus explained as he opened up a door.

Inside there was a woman resting on the bed. She was dark skinned and had dark brown hair tied back in a bun. She wore a dark orange jacket over a white shirt with jeans. "Who the heck is this?" She asked Josephine.

"Christa, this is Clair. She's going to be staying with us for a bit." Josephine explained before looking at me. "Make yourself comfortable." Was all she told me before she closed the door.

I looked back at Christa. She stared at me. "... Hello." I said after an awkward moment. She looked away, so I found a seat and sat down in it. It was rather quiet right now... I wondered if the others were doing okay. I hope that nothing bad was happening to them...

Christa crossed her arms on the bed.

"Do you know anything about these people?" I asked her.

"... No." she answered.

"Dang it." I said. And that was exactly what I said, not the other word. "How long have you been here?" I asked her.

"Not that long. A couple days, mostly." she answered. "Were you alone when these guys found you?"

"Kind of." I explained. "I was tracking some men who took my group."

She scoffed. "Probably should've left them. Groups only get you into trouble."

I shrugged. "Probably, but I couldn't bring myself to abandon them. They helped me when I needed help. What kind of person would I be if I didn't return the favor?"

"One who's still alive."

I crossed my arms. "What about you? Were you with anybody before these guys found you?"

Christa looked away at that. "... yes." she muttered with a reluctant tone in her voice.

"What happened?"

"I lost her. These scavengers attacked us. I don't know what happened to her after."

I blinked. "What did she look like?"

"She was about eleven. And she wore this cap. Always. She barely took that thing off."

Always wore a cap? Wait a minute. "Did it have a D on it?"

Christa looked at me with suspicion at that. "Yes..."

No way. "You're Clem's friend?"

She stood up at that with a shocked expression. "Clem?! As in Clementine?! How do you know her?!"

"She joined our group not too long ago." I explained. "She explained that she was looking for a friend of hers."

"Where is she now?!" she asked me with a fierce tone in her voice.

I looked down. "Captured with the rest of my group. I was on my way to rescue them."

Her eyes widened before she walked over to me. "Who took them?! Is Clementine still alive?"

"A man named Carver and his group. Yeah, they took them alive, though they did kill two men to make an example."

She grabbed me by the shoulders. "I need to see if she's okay for myself!"

That action surprised me. "Josephine and Cyrus said they're going to help me."

Christa looked at me. "You have no idea how the world works anymore, do you?"

"I know the dead don't stay down anymore, and eat anything still living." I said.

"It's the living you need to watch out for." She looked at me. "This apocalypse has brought out the worst in people. You need to be careful about who you meet. You have to know if you can trust them. Many of them make the walkers look... civil. Trust the wrong people, and you could pay the ultimate price."

"Do you trust these guys?" I asked.

Christa looked at me. "No. I don't. What about you?"

"They seem nice enough." I answered honestly.

"Those are usually the worst." Christa said. "People like that... Clementine told me about these people they met a few weeks before meeting us. They came across their group and acted nice, offering them food. But they weren't." Christa then told me something that gave me goosebumps. "They were cannibals."

"What?!" I gasped.

"They were luring survivors to their dairy and carving them up like Thanksgiving turkeys. Clem told me one of Lee's friends, Mark, got his legs chopped off. And they tried to FEED them to them. But Clementine told me Lee managed to stop her from taking a bite."

"You don't think..." I didn't finish my sentence, but the meaning was clear. I felt sick to my stomach.

"That's what we need to find out." Christa shook her head. "I'm starting to sound like Kenny now."

I looked at that, but shook my head. Probably a different Kenny. "How do we go about that?"

"Wait until they're asleep, or distracted."

I crossed my arms. I then heard something. Or at least, I thought I did. "Huh?"

"What is it?" Christa asked.

I motioned for her to stay quiet while I listened closely. It sounded like... whispers. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

I blinked. "Can't you hear them?"

She shook her head. "Hear what?"

I was about to answer, but decided against it, in case it made me sound mad to her. I headed over to the door and pressed my ear against it.

"The basement." I heard the voices say. "Go to the basement."

I hesitantly opened the door. "What're you doing?" Christa asked, but I motioned for her to stay quiet. I moved through the halls and checked one of the rooms. It had an assortment of gear in it, but not very tidy. I picked up a small shirt. This looked like it could've fit a toy. Or a child. A feeling of dread washed over me and I shuddered, fearing the worst.

I also noticed shoes. Kid shoes. And there was a photograph of a happy family. I picked it up. How long did this family survive? Did they own this stuff, or did the walkers get them first? I put it back. I heard the voices again, so I quietly walked through the hall, crouching down a bit.

They led me to a closet, but it wasn't filled with what I thought it would be full of. Instead of clothes, or supplies, it was filled with weapons. Machetes, guns, bullets, baseball bats with nails hammered into them... there were even hammers. I was shocked. But they could be useful. I quickly looked over my shoulder towards the stairs. No one was coming...

Christa grabbed some of the stuff. "We may need to fight our way out."

I jumped a bit, surprised that she followed me. I grabbed a couple things as well, including this little green stick filled with some liquid. It had string tied on to the end of it, enough to allow it to slip around my neck, which I did. Now to sneak downstairs without anyone noticing us. I crouched down and kept my head low. As we crept down the stairs, I noticed everyone had vanished. Where did they go?

Christa had a cautious look on her face. We crept as quietly as we could as I listened closely. "Crap!" I hissed. We had to duck behind some furniture because someone was in the kitchen. My breath hitched as we hid. I dared to sneak a peek. I saw Cyrus in the kitchen. What was he doing?

I kept hidden, but still kept an eye on him. Think, Clair, think! I looked around to see if there was anything we could use on him. Cyrus was muttering to himself, but I couldn't tell what he was saying. I found a wooden plank lying a couple feet beside me, but I was afraid Cyrus might see me. So I took another peek and saw his back was turned. "He's not looking." I whispered.

Christa grabbed the wooden plank before quickly hiding again. "Then let's take him." She told me.

I held a finger to my lips. I heard Cyrus say something. "So we got two people now. I guess that'll do..."

Christa held the wooden plank in her hands as she quickly hid behind another piece of furniture when he wasn't looking. I hid behind another one as well, one closer to the kitchen.

"And the girl brought a horse. That's something I haven't seen for a while. Started to think the dead finished them off." That was Josephine. "Guess at least SOME of them survived."

Cyrus shook his head. "And what are you thinking we do with it? Hitch it to a plow?"

"We don't have one, and we have nothing to grow."

"I was being sarcastic."

I cautiously peered around the corner of the chair I was hiding behind. It looked as if Josephine and Cyrus were having an argument.

"They'll be trouble. Whose bright idea was it to keep them in a room that was close to weapons?"

"Well, excuse me." Cyrus crossed his arms.

I ducked my head back and stayed hidden. How were we gonna sneak past them?

I could hear the voices again. "The basement. The basement." How were we supposed to sneak over there, anyway?

A solution came.

"Cyrus, Josephine, come in." A voice said over a walkie talkie.

Cyrus picked it up. "What is it?"

"We got walkers. Lots of them. Could be stragglers from the herd that's heading to Carver's."

Wait. Did he say a herd? I looked at Christa. She looked at me with the same, surprised expression.

"Just shoot 'em and be done with it." Josephine said.

"No can do." Was the response. "We do that, and the sound will draw more. We need anything silent."

I got ready to move again

"Are you serious?"

"Yes." the voice replied.

"Fine. We'll be there soon." Cyrus turned off the walkie talkie and scraping was heard, like a door opening. "Come on. Let's take care of the corpses."

I heard footsteps and when I peeked again, they were gone. I looked at Christa. "Now's our chance." I whispered before we snuck ahead. The voices were speaking like they were right next to us now as we turned a corner. I could see a door at the end of a hall. This had to be the door to the basement.

"This way." They were saying. I reached out to the door and pulled it open. No sooner was it open than we were assaulted by the smell of decay. Ugh. My stomach churned and twisted in me. If I had any lunch, I probably would've lost it. Christa groaned with disgust and swore quietly. This stench was absolutely horrible! I covered my nose with my arm to try and block the smell as we headed down. Why couldn't I throw up? I seriously wanted to.

While we descended the stairs, I kept stepping on things that cracked, but it was too dark to see. No candles were burning down here. I wondered why. By the time we reached the bottom, we were completely surrounded by darkness. I felt a hand take the object and snap it. We were given a green light from the thing I took. So that's what it was for. That'll help.

However, what we saw absolutely horrified me. There was blood everywhere. There were also saws everywhere, many dripping with blood. There were also discarded limbs, legs and arms scattered across the room. I looked back and saw what we had been stepping on. Bones. Bones of people. I held a hand to my mouth in shock.

"Oh my gosh..." Christa gagged. Only she didn't say gosh.

I finally threw up. I held my stomach, gagging as I puked on the floor. I hated the acidic taste of bile in my mouth, but the sight I had before me was worse. As I hunched over throwing up, I noticed Christa looked like she was about to vomit as well. "Christa?" I wiped my mouth just as she threw up.

Christa panted once she finished puking. "We have... to leave... now." She said between breaths.

I nodded. "I'm not staying here any longer." I turned, and almost ran into a head hanging from a meat hook. I screamed and tumbled back, slipping on some of the blood and limbs scattered across the floor. My eyes widened before I scrambled to my feet. Christa quickly helped me up as we started up the stairs, but stopped. Cyrus was back, and Josephine was with him.

"Should've locked that door." Cyrus said.

Christa swore under her breath. Cyrus began coming down the stairs while Christa pulled out a gun and aimed at him. I stared at Cyrus and Josephine in horror.

"You should've left well enough alone." He said.

"Y... you're CANNIBALS?!" I exclaimed with horror.

"Well, we have a particular diet." Josephine said as she came down.

"You're sick!" Christa spat at them.

"No, we're realistic." Cyrus said. "Every person we kill and eat is one less biter out there."

"And these people deserved it." Josephine added.

I looked at them. "What gives you the right to say that?"

"They had faith."

"What?!" Christa growled.

Josephine laughed. "These people were a group that still clung to their faith. They kept praying that some nonexistent god would help them survive the plague, that everything would be all right."

"We showed them the truth." Cyrus gloated. "We showed that there is no hope anymore, no more faith, no miracles, and there is no God."

Something snapped inside of me there and then. "You MONSTERS!" I ran forward and forced Cyrus to the ground. "Those people had every right to live, and you stole that away from them!"

Cyrus spat before he punched me in the gut. I coughed, feeling the wind get knocked out of me. Josephine moved to attack as well, but Christa lunged at her.

"You witch!" Only Christa didn't say witch.

Cyrus forced me off him and pinned me on the ground. He then pulled out a knife.

"You're sick!" I spat at him.

"And now you will die." I felt the cold metal against my throat. Now it's time for you to join those stupid-"

I rammed my knee in between his legs as hard as I could.

He cried out in pain and dropped the knife. "I'll kill you for that!" He said.

Christa was currently fighting Josephine. Both of them were swearing. I rammed my elbow into Cyrus's face to get him off me. It worked, but then he grabbed the knife and swung at me, cutting me along the back.

"AGH!" I gasped in pain. I fell over, narrowly missing a saw. Cyrus turned it on, grabbed me, and started to push my head towards it. I gritted my teeth and struggled to push my head away from it.

"Die, witch." Only he didn't call me a witch.

I could feel the wind of the blades as my head was pushed closer. No. I would not die like this. I would not! Please… help me… I then felt something powerful. Huh...? This feels like what I felt back at the ski lodge... Except... I don't know how to describe it. All I remember was the rush of energy, screaming, and then...

My eyes widened. The building was on fire! I had to get out, but where was Christa? Where were Josephine and Cyrus?

I heard snarling behind me. I turned and gasped. Cyrus was behind me, but now he was a walker! There was a saw blade sticking through his chest. Did I do that to him? I scooted away from him with shock. The undead Cyrus snarled and growled.

"C-Christa?!" I called. The walker reached for me, but couldn't grab me. Coughing, I tried to make my way to the stairs. That was the only way out from here. I made my way past the body parts before I made it to the stairs. There was Josephine's body, with her skull crushed in. I felt like vomiting there. Did Christa do that...?

The smell of burning wood pulled me out of my thoughts before I quickly headed up the stairs. The stairs then collapsed once I got to the top. Thankfully I still had my weapons. I covered my mouth and nose to avoid inhaling the smoke as I looked for a way to escape. I coughed as I made my way to the door. Or where I remembered where the door was supposed to be.

I stumbled in the smoke, and fell, gasping until I banged my chin on the floor. I grunted with pain at that. Just then, somebody yanked me to my feet. "Come on!" I looked to see who it was. It was Christa! She had a bit of blood on her, but she looked like she was alright.

She then kicked the door open. Embers flew around us before we leapt through the doorway. The house continued to burn while we ran. I heard a whinny. Windrun!

I saw he was breaking free from a post.

"Where'd that horse come from?" Christa asked.

"He's with me." I said as I ran over to help get Windrun untied. He nearly kicked me as I got to him, but I managed to duck. "Steady, Windrun. Steady." I said calmly as I began to untie him. Ugh. His tugging really tightened this thing.

It was then I heard snarling. Oh no. I looked. From the light of the flames I could see some walkers stumbling towards us. They weren't going to get Windrun. Pulling out my tomahawk, I swung it at the post. It cut through the ropes, freeing my horse. He immediately bolted, running off without me or Christa. She was also running from the walkers.

Before I could say anything, a walker that looked like a former skier ended up trying to bite me. I buried my tomahawk in its skull before forcing it back with my knee. Some of the blood got on my jeans, but I didn't really care about that right now. I had to get the high ground before I was overrun.

Seeing a car nearby, I ran towards it. A walker that looked like it had been a female jogger before dying tried to sneak up on me, but my tomahawk meeting its head stopped it. I then began to climb up the car, but a walker grabbed me from behind. I had to hack off the hand before it could bite me. Some of the blood got on my heel, but again, not important right now. Putting my tomahawk away, I could see more of the walkers were coming towards me. I needed to take them out before they got too close.

Pulling out my bow, I notched an arrow and took aim. Seeing one that had been a former woman in a tank top starting to scratch at the car, I put an arrow through her. I then shot one that was coming in that had been a middle-aged man in the past. I heard snarling behind me and I lost my balance. Crap! Forgot about the one behind me. I ended up tumbling over the car, pulling something heavy behind me.

As I landed in the grass, the walker made an attempt to bite me in the leg. I kicked it in the face, trying to dislodge it. However, that didn't faze it, and it just pull itself closer to the rest of my body. I had to lean in to keep it from sinking its teeth into my flesh by putting my hands on its face. Ugh. It was like touching rotting garbage. Yet it still managed to lean in closer. Was this it? Was I going to die? Please no. Not like this. My heart pounded so hard I felt like it was going to break my ribcage while I felt the strength in my arms wane as the mouth drew closer to my body.

A gunshot ran out and a hole appeared in the side of its head. It fell over dead as I was finally able to push that thing off me. Looking in the direction the shot came from, I saw Christa riding up on Windrun. How'd she manage to catch him? And where did that rifle come from? Some of the walkers were turning towards her, but several were still coming. She came closer to me. "Clair! Get on!"

There was only one way to effectively do that. Quickly grabbing my bow and what arrows I could, I scrambled up the car. Once I finished climbing up on the hood of the car, I leapt onto Windrun's back. I ended up with my top half over one side and the rest on the other, like I had just been hunted. I scrambled to right myself while Christa helped me.

Once I was in a sitting position, we rode off to the woods while some of the walkers gave pursuit. We soon lost them, but still Windrun rode on. We both had to hold on tight to avoid getting thrown off. While we rode, I asked Christa, "Why did you come back? I thought you were gonna leave me."

"I thought that too." Christa admitted. "Then, while I was running, something inside me told me to go back. I can't explain it, but it felt a lot like… like someone I knew. Then, as I was going back, I found the horse just standing there, waiting for me. He seemed calm, so I mounted him. Also found this rifle just sitting by a tree."

"Thanks for coming back." I said. "I was sure I was going to die there."

"Mind explaining how you managed to set the house on fire?" Christa asked.

My heart skipped a beat. "You mean… I did that?"

"Yes. You screamed, and then a pillar of fire erupted from you. Killed Cyrus and set the place on fire. I was able to use it to take care of Josephine. What happened?"

"I… I don't know." I admitted. "A miracle? I don't know how else to explain it."

"Well, we could've used more miracles years ago."

"That I know."

Christa began to slow down. "So, which way were you going? How do we find Carver?"

"His truck was heading in a north by northeast direction." I pointed. "Somewhere that way."

"Then that's where we're going."

* * *

CHASE'S POV

I sat up with a start at the loud boom. I banged my head against something as I did. "Ow." I added the d-word as I rubbed my head. Looking in the sky, I saw light… no. Firelight, under a huge column of smoke. Did something happen? What was going on? I doubt someone was trying to make a bonfire.

"What the heck?" Only Anne didn't say heck as she got up. Everyone out here was now awake. Kenny told Sarita to stay where she was as he checked it out. On the roof I could hear people clamoring. Inside the compound I could tell something had gotten people excited.

"Wh-what's going on?" Sarah asked nervously.

Clem looked at her. "I don't know Sarah. I don't know." That didn't exactly comfort her, but Carlos put his arms around his daughter. It had been some time before they allowed him to rejoin us.

The door opened and Troy stepped in. "All of you get your butts back into bed." Only he didn't say butts.

"What's happening?" Dylan asked.

"That's none of your fudging business." Troy didn't say fudging either. "Get back to sleep before I smack the shoot out of you." He didn't say shoot.

Since he was the one holding the gun and we weren't, we reluctantly got back to where we were sleeping. I found myself just lying there, awake. Something big had happened. One positive side of this, the noise might get the walkers moving in that direction and away from us. Why did I suddenly feel hopeful? I felt better than I had since coming to this prison camp. I felt like that things were going to get better.

* * *

 **And now things are going to deviate more. I hope you enjoy.**


	20. Chapter 20

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 20

ANNE'S POV

"Get up." A gruff voice said. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Except when I did that the person speaking kicked me in the back, resulting in me rolling out of bed. "I said get up!"

"Ow! What the heck?" Only I didn't say heck as I rubbed the sore spot on my back. I looked up to see it was Troy standing there.

"Get your butt outta bed when I say get it out." Troy didn't say butt as he glared at me. I quickly got up. No use getting myself maimed for the sake of a few lost winks of sleep. I rejoined the others who were gathering near the door. And guess who showed up. None other than Carver himself. He seemed pleased this morning, and soon shared why.

"Thanks to last night's explosion, the herd we were monitoring has moved away from us. We have a few stragglers, but it's nothing serious. Just be mindful when outside the walls. Now… there are some folks might be sore about what happened… at how things went. Well, that's all in the past now."

I so wanted to rip his throat out.

"…some of you are new to our community. Some of you are members who went astray. But know that you can find redemption here… forgiveness… by proving your worth through what will be undoubtedly be hard work."

I shook my head and thought about my dream from last night. I had yet another strange one. I dreamt that the walkers were attacking this place. Only thing was, they didn't stay walkers. They changed. Their eyes turned yellow, and they mutated into black creatures that seemed to merge with the shadows. The same things I saw in that one dream that Chase and Dylan had. What did it mean? I shuddered remembering it.

"Something wrong?" Carver asked me.

I looked at him. "Uh… no." Actually, what was wrong was him, but I had the sense to keep my mouth shut.

"Oh no. Something was wrong." Carver looked at me. "You weren't paying attention. You need to know that when I'm speaking, everyone listens. Troy, discipline her."

Before I could react, I was quickly lying on the ground with a stinging sensation on my cheek and Troy was standing over me. I tasted iron in my mouth. He actually made me bite my cheek?!

"Let that be a lesson." Carver said.

I glared at him. Oh, it was a lesson all right. A lesson in why I hate this guy.

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

We kept riding through the woods. It was getting brighter out, and that meant we would lose our cover. We had to take several detours to try and avoid a huge incoming herd of the walking dead. I had to assume they were heading to the house that was probably done burning to the ground.

I looked at my hands. How in the world did I do what I did? Ugh, this amnesia is being nothing but a pain in the butt. I wish I could find a way to get over this curse. I'm probably hindering my group with this condition. When I get them back, I should speak with Carlos and see if there was some way we could fix this problem.

"Walkers." Christa said. Windrun turned and began to move around them. I'm still amazed at how quiet he knew to be when the dead were nearby. He even made sure to give them a wide berth to be extra cautious. I then realized Christa was looking at me. "This is one smart pony."

Windrun snorted at that.

"I don't think he liked being called a pony." I grinned.

She shook her head. "A horse with an ego. Do you have a plan on what we're going to do when we get to Carver's camp?"

I shook my head. "You wouldn't happen to have a map on hand, would you?"

"We're doomed." Christa sighed.

"No we're not." We haven't been caught or bitten. There's still a chance we can pull this off."

"How?"

"They would've been on high alert because of the dead. Now the dead are gone."

Christa caught on my meaning. "They'll lower their guard. Won't be as alert." A twig snapped. Pausing, the two of us looked through the trees and shrubbery, trying to make sure a walker hadn't spotted us. "Who's there?" Christa said.

"Don't shoot." Luke said as he came out with his hands raised.

"Luke?" I asked.

"Clair? Oh, thank heaven."

Christa looked at me. "You know him?"

"He's part of the group I'm with. He managed to get away before the others were captured." I explained in a hurry before turning back to Luke. "You have any idea how to get in?"

"One way." He said. "They're extending the defenses. Some of the walls will be easy to climb over. I can hide in one of the stores and see if I can get in contact with someone."

"That's risky." Christa said. "If you're caught—."

"Then you two can come in." Luke said.

I looked at Christa. "Better than storming the fort like I was probably going to do. Alone, he's got a better chance of not being spotted."

She sighed. "Fine. Now we have a plan."

"I'll see if I can sneak in, and then report back tonight."

* * *

ANNE'S POV

Ugh. My back hurt. Carver said it was going to be hard work, but Troy worked me like I was a dang mule. I'm just glad they didn't have whips or I'm sure my back would've been covered in scars. Knowing Troy, he probably would've used it on me just for the sake of it. I hated taking anyone's life, but his death would be one I would be okay with.

I still couldn't believe that Luke had managed to find a way in. When Clem told us about what happened, Kenny became more determined than ever to get us out. He sent Clem on some crazy mission to get some walkie talkies so Luke could be given one and we could coordinate an escape. He said there were friends waiting for us. I assume one was Clair, but who else would be waiting for us?

I rolled over in my bed pretending to go to sleep, but it seemed like sleep was eluding me. I hate it when that happens. I knew Troy was going to use any reason he could to work me to the bone again. I was not looking forward to that.

I don't remember falling asleep, but the next thing I knew I found myself falling. It wasn't fast like in the real world. It was a slow descent, but when I realized what was going on, I started freaking. "Oh, shoot!" Only I didn't say shoot. The worst thing about falling is when you can't see the ground. You know it's there, but it's hiding from you, messing with your head. What kind of psycho dream was this?

I found myself rolling over. I half expected to become street pizza, but instead of going splat, I found myself gently touching the ground. There was a flash of light, and then I saw I was standing on a stained-glass pedestal. At first I thought it was some fancy princess, but then I did a double take. The figure in the glass was Belle from _Beauty and the Beast_ , and the Beast was behind her. I haven't thought of that movie in forever. But why was I seeing her here?

 **So much to do, so little time…**

I jumped. I didn't hear that voice. I more felt it in my heart and my mind at the same time. That was a strange experience. "Who's there?" I reached for my gun, but when I looked it wasn't there. "Dang."

 **Take your time. Don't be afraid.**

"Yeah. I'm Who-Knows-Where and some disembodied voice is telling me to not freak out at all this." I shook my head. "I think I'd rather deal with the herd that moved on." I moved around as I spoke, not sure what to think of all this. As soon as I reached the center, three more pedestals appeared, each one carrying a different weapon. One was a sword, the other a wand or staff thing, and the last was a shield. I had to do a double take again because each one had the Mickey Mouse icon on them. What was going on?

 **Power sleeps within you. If you give it form… it will give you strength. Choose well.**

I was starting to doubt I was going to have much choice in this. Sighing, I approached the pedestal with the sword and picked it up. I never held one before, except for toys. However, it felt perfect in my hand. It was heavy, but not to the point where it could hinder me. Hell, I daresay my hands liked it better than my gun.

 **The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?**

I looked at it and nodded. "Yes." In a flash the sword was gone. Great. Now I'm defenseless again.

 **Your path is set. Now, what will you give up in exchange for it?**

I looked around at the two other pedestals. The shield could be useful, but I dunno. I went over to the wand thingy and picked it up.

 **The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin. You wish to give up this power?**

I knew no magic. It didn't exist. I said, "Yes." No sooner had that word exited my mouth than it vanished as well in a flash.

 **You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the mystic. Is this the form you choose?**

I nodded. "Yes." Once that word was out the three pedestals sank back into the larger one I was on. Then, to my horror, the larger one shattered into thousands of tiny little pieces that floated off to who-knows-where. "Oh, crap!" I said as I backed up, but ended up falling into the abyss. However, out of the darkness another pedestal appeared. This one looked pink and… wait. Was that Alice on it? From _Alice in Wonderland_? As soon as I touched down the sword reappeared in my hand.

 **Use this power to protect yourself and others. There will be times you will have to fight. Keep your light burning strong.**

"Protect myself? Is this a trap?" I called out into the darkness. However, in front of me, three blobs of darkness appeared and took form. I gasped as I recognized them. The Heartless! From the nightmares I've been having. One leapt at me, but I swung my sword at it, and it sliced through it like it was butter. I stared at the blade in surprise.

I didn't have time to relax as I still had two more to deal with. One melted back into the stained-glass pedestal and tried to sneak up behind me. When it came up, I stabbed it a couple of times before I sliced it in half. The last one ran towards me, but I repeated the process of stabbing it twice before slicing it in half.

Only, this time it just melted back into the floor. When it did, it became a pool of darkness that covered the entire area. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!" I said as I tried to run. However, I was caught in the pool and no matter how hard I pulled on my legs I could not free them. Slowly, I sank into the darkness while I uttered prayers I hadn't said since I was a kid.

However, soon I found myself lying on another pedestal with a sky-blue background. On it was… Jasmine? From _Aladdin_? Was I going to see a pedestal with every Disney princess before this ordeal was over? I wasn't looking forward to that. Ahead of me, I saw a door. From a crack in the door came a bright beam of light. I had to squint to allow my eyes to adjust, but once they were, the light felt comfortable, warm and welcoming. I found myself walking towards the door, and opening it, allowing myself to be consumed by the light.

When the light faded, I gasped. This was the park I used to play in back when I was a kid. There was the old swing set and slide. However, there were no overturned cars, or half-eaten bodies. None of the stores in the background had broken or boarded windows. It was like the apocalypse never happened. I then noticed Dylan leaning against the fence. I quickly ran over to him. "Dylan! Can you believe this?"

"What's most important to you?" He asked me.

That stopped me in my tracks. "Huh?" After thinking, I said, "I guess… friendship."

He smiled at me before vanishing into thin air. "Whoa!" I said as I looked around. I then saw Chase leaning against a tree. I ran over to him. "Chase, the craziest thing just happened."

"What is it you're so afraid of?" He asked me.

I groaned. "Not you too." After thinking, I answered, "Losing someone close to me." When I answered, he smiled and vanished in a flash of light. "If this is someone's sick idea of a joke, I'm not laughing." I then saw the last person I expected to see sitting peacefully on a park bench. "Mom!" I hadn't seen her since the dead came back, so I ran over to her.

"What do you wish?" She asked once I was close enough.

"Are you kidding me?" I asked. After thinking, I answered. "To broaden my horizons."

With a smile, Mom vanished. Then, I was engulfed by light and found myself back on the stained-glass pedestal with Jasmine on it. What is going on? No sooner was I back than blobs of darkness showed up, and more Heartless appeared. "Oh, come on. Not this again."

The first one leapt at me, and I stabbed it a couple of times before slicing it in half, killing it. "Argh!" I growled as I felt something sharp slice into my arms. I turned to see another Heartless had snuck up on me. With a snarl I stabbed it twice before slicing it in half. The third one had sense to hide as a shadow, so I waited for it to come back up. Once it did, I leapt in and stabbed it two times before finishing it off.

Once I was done, a staircase appeared and led up into the darkness. "Oh, please let this be a way out." I prayed as I began to run up the stairs. However, when I got to the top, I found myself on another stained-glass pedestal. When I looked to see who was on it, I gasped. It wasn't a Disney princess. It was Clair! "What the heck?" I asked. She looked… younger. Her hair wasn't done up in a ponytail, and she had a short-sleeved purple shirt under her red vest, which looked different from the one she had. Instead of boots, she had on a pair of shoes like a normal person. Also, in her hand was the strangest thing. It looked like a giant key. At least I think it was. It was made of intertwining rainbow colors that ended in a sun-and-moon shape. The guard around the handle was black and white, reminding me of the yin-yang symbol. There was also a keychain with what appeared to be a crystal ball attacked to it. She held this giant key like it was a sword.

I then had a feeling like something was sneaking up behind me. Fighting walkers for two years would do that to a person. I turned, and felt my jaw drop. "Holy cow." I said as I saw a HUGE Heartless rise up. It looked like its hair was tangled across its face, with two large yellow eyes looking down at me. It had arms and hands that would make the Hulk jealous, yet it had tiny little legs. I swear I saw a pair of tiny wings on its back as well. The most defining feature was a gaping heart-shaped hole in most of its body.

The sword reappeared in my hand, and I got ready to fight. It raised its fist, and I thought it was going to smash me with it. However, it just punched the ground. I didn't see the point, until more of the tiny versions started crawling out. "Crap." I said as I ran forward. I kept stabbing and slice each of them, but more kept crawling out. It was then I realized I had to attack the fist. Pushing my way through the pool of darkness, I hacked and slashed the fist until it retreated. While I finished disposing of the smaller Heartless, I looked at the giant one. I then realized it was going to attack again. "Oh no you don't!" I said. With no idea why, I raised my hands and threw my sword at the Heartless. It ended up impaling itself between the eyes. I smiled in satisfaction, until it melted into a wave of darkness. I had no time to react before it washed over me. I struggled to free myself, but I couldn't see the light anymore.

 **With this, you will be able to protect those you care about. Use it well.**

Use what? Help me!

 **You must be ready for what is about to come.**

What's coming? What are you talking about? Start making sense!

 **Your friend needs your help. She has forgotten who she truly is. You must help her remember, or all is lost.**

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

Christa and I waited patiently for Luke to return. I was nervous about starting a fire in case Carver or one of his men saw it. So using another glow stick, Christa and I opened up a couple of cans of peaches, and ate that while we waited. It wasn't a feast, but it was better than starving.

There was a rustling of the leaves, and Luke appeared. "Hey."

"You okay?" Christa asked.

"Yeah. I'm… I'm just starving."

I handed him a can of peaches. "Last can. Make it count."

"Oh, thank you." He said as he peeled the lid off. He then began to pour it into his mouth. We waited for him to chew and swallow before asking him anymore questions.

"Did you find them?" I asked.

He nodded as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "I found Clem. The others are all there. Alvin's gone missing, but I think I know where he is."

"So what's the plan?" Christa asked.

"Clem's going to bring me a radio we can use to communicate with tomorrow."

I shook my head. "So you're going to go back?"

"Gotta. Clem will be waiting for me."

Christa looked at him. "Did you… tell her about us?"  
"She knows they have friends waiting for them." Luke said.

"She's going to be surprised." I said. It was then I saw a flash of light, yet the place didn't get any brighter. However, it set off one of my headaches. "No, not again!" I said as I clutched my head. A flood of images raced through my head. I saw lots of monsters, some were the shadow creatures from before, others were not. I even saw a lot of people that felt strangely familiar. Argh! The pain! I screamed before I passed out again.

* * *

 **Well, this was a hard one to write, and it's going to get harder as Clair's presence in this words shifts the course of events. It's not that I don't have respect for the source material. I'm just trying to show Clair coming to this world, as well as the Heartless, are having a domino effect. Things are changing because of them, and the change is going to be affected by everyone.**

 **I hope you enjoy. Now to brainstorm ideas as to what to have happen next chapter.**

 **Special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace. Her story, Kingdom Hearts: Darkness Descending, help provide me with a model of what to do with her awakening the power within her. We'll have to see how it affects her further down the road.**


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

 **Chris belongs to Chris**

* * *

Chapter 21

ANNE'S POV

"...ne... Anne… "

Huh...?

"ANNE!"

My eyes shot open and I bolted up, only to hit the shelf above my head. "Ow!" I looked to see who had woken me up. It was Clementine, who was crouching next to my 'bed'. "Hey, Clem..." I greeted with a wince as I held my forehead.

"We've been trying to wake you up for the past few minutes." she informed me.

"I had the craziest dream." I told her.

She rose an eyebrow. "Huh? What dream?"

"It felt so real..." I said. "I was in this dark abyss, fighting monsters and seeing stained-glass images of Disney princesses." I said.

"You're right. that is a weird dream." Clem commented.

I rubbed my eye. "So, what is it? Troy and Carver here to smack us around some more?" I yawned.

Clementine shook her head. "We're trying to figure out a plan." She gestured for me to follow her to the others, so I climbed out of my bed and followed her to a table.

"Mornin', sleepyhead." Kenny greeted. I just yawned in reply.

I still couldn't get over that weird dream... everything in it felt so real. What did it mean? What was with those questions? Why were there Heartless in it?

And why was Clair in one of those stained-glass pictures? However, there was no time to dwell on it as the radio was laid out on the table. Everyone looked over it

"Alright, we're all here." Kenny noted.

"So, what now?" I asked.

"Somebody's gotta get the radio to Luke." Rebecca pointed out. "What's the problem?"

"We need to figure out who's doing what before we-" Kenny cut himself off as the door opened. Kenny quickly hid the radio as we turned to the door, seeing that one woman, Tavia, step through carrying her gun.

"Time to get up. Daylight's burning, people. They let you sleep in, all things considered." she told us with a frown.

"Where's my Dad...?" Sarah asked.

"He's where the rest of you are going; to work." She answered. "Rebecca, Nick, Sarah, Jane... if you gotta take a break, do it now. The next break won't be for a while. Troy'll be comin' up for the rest of you."

We looked around nervously. "Why just them?" Kenny asked.

"Like I said... Troy's comin' for the rest of you."

That statement absolutely didn't make me feel any better.

Sarah, Nick, Jane, and Rebecca went through the door as Tavia followed them. A guard glared at us before lowering the door back down.

Kenny turned back to us. "Alright, guys, if we're gonna do something, we have to do it NOW. If Luke is all we got, then we pair up with him and whoever the friends that are waiting for us are."

"I can do it." a man named Mike offered.

"Mike... Clem should do it."

"Seriously?" Mike asked with surprise. A clang from outside the door made us all tense, but as soon as we knew we were in the clear, we resumed the discussion.

"Kenny, she's just a kid." Tess said.

"There's a million reasons." Kenny said. "She knows Luke, she can hide, she got the dang radio for us in the first place..."

I shook my head. "But if she's caught somewhere she's not supposed to be again..."

"We gotta take that chance." Kenny said.

Clem ended the debate. "Kenny's right. I should do it."

"Are you sure, Clem? I could do it." Dylan volunteered.

"I can do it." Clementine insisted.

Mike shook his head. "You don't have to go do somethin' stupid just to get respect. Give me the radio, Kenny."

I shook my head. "Guys, just-"

The door suddenly pulled up as Troy stepped inside. "Alright, little chickens, let's get to peckin'." he said with a scowl. "And don't think that today's gonna be like yesterday. No shenanigans. This rooster's gonna be surveilling you every second of the day, you hear? Got that?"

I frowned, crossing my arms. "Yeah, yeah, we got it." I muttered. I was really getting fed up with Troy's crap.

He glared at me. "Don't you sass me. Now get your butt moving." he spat.

I glared right back at him as we started to follow him, but Kenny stepped in front of Clementine. "Oh, you have your pockets all out!"

I noticed he slipped the radio into Clem's pocket. "Gonna get your tags snagged on something..."

Troy glared at us, so Kenny merely shrugged in reply. "Anne, you're moving buckets today."

Not again...! I glared at him

"Move it!" he ordered.

Reluctantly, I trudged forward with the others into the store. I noticed that one lady, Bonnie, come over to us. "Hey, she's with me." she said, gesturing to Clementine.

"Oh, crap, I almost forgot." Troy said, then roughly shoved Clementine forward with his rifle. "Well, take her, then. I don't care."

"Wait, what's going on?" Kenny asked.

"Just chores of a different sort. Come on, city mouse..." Bonnie told Clementine, who started following her.

This was going to throw a monkey wrench in our plans.

"I'll be alright, guys." Clem assured us.

Troy then led us to the areas we would be working at. "You know your job." He said as we got out to the extension. "Get to it."

"Yeah, yeah..." I muttered as I started moving the heavy buckets. Oh, the nails must've weighed a ton. I grunted as I carried them from one spot to the next.

"Keep moving!" Troy spat when I paused for a moment.

As I resumed carrying them, a rat ran out. I yelled with disgust and staggered back in surprise. However, it just kept running, between the boards and out into the parking lot.

"Quit whining and get back to work!" Troy barked at me.

I shot a glare at him before I resumed moving the buckets. "'Get back to work!'" I quietly mimicked with a frown. It was then a couple of mice ran by. I rose an eyebrow at that. What the heck...?

"Troy." Carver's voice came on the radio. "We have a guest."

Troy swore. "Oh yeah? Who?"

"It's Luke."

I could swear my heart stopped beating for a minute there. Oh no...

"Go find everyone and bring them back." Carver said over the radio

"On it." Troy said as he hung up, then sneered at me. "Looks like you're going in early. Now get going."

I reluctantly started heading back with Troy right on my tail.

It wasn't long before we were all back together. My eyes widened as I saw Carver in the pen with everyone else as he angrily paced back and forth. On the ground sat a rather beat up looking Luke, who was being looked over by Carlos.

I was then roughly shoved forward. "Get over there!" Troy snarled as Kenny, Clementine, Dylan, and Mike came in last.

If he had Luke, then what about the others? I scanned the area, but I couldn't see Clair anywhere. Maybe she was still out there with whoever else Luke mentioned!

"And how is it that we're repaid for our trust?" Carver asked, snapping me out of my thoughts as he started going into another speech. "With treachery...? With deceit...? With theft!"

"What's going on?" Clementine whispered, earning a shrug from Kenny.

Carver then held up something for all of us to see: it was Luke's radio.

"Crap." I said.

"Whatever you were planning, it's over... it's done. You can't just run away from your problems. You can't just up and leave when it gets tough... cause there's nowhere else you can go where it ain't." Carver said with a smug expression on his face. "Tough is all we got now. Get that through your thick skulls."

Was he serious? He was the one who put us in this prison in the first place!

Tess glared at Carver, and if looks could kill, I'm sure he'd be dead by now.

Carver seemed to notice the glare. "Don't give me that look. You may be my daughter, but I will not tolerate this attitude."

"Go to heck!" Tess spat at him. Only she didn't say heck.

Carver's face narrowed before he raised his fist and punched her across the face.

HOLY CRAP!

Everyone had a horrified expression as Tess landed on the ground. Carver just punched his own daughter?!

Nick and Carlos immediately checked on her as she held her face.

"What the heck, man?!" I blurted out. I didn't say heck.

Carver glared at me. "Disloyalty will not be tolerated."

"But hitting your daughter?"

"She's no child of mine. Not anymore." Carver said. "I won't have disrespect in my family."

I shook my head. This man was an absolute psychopath!

"Now you'd best keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, that'll be you on the ground next." Carver threatened me before he resumed his speech. "Luke here, he can't help ya now. You gotta help yourselves... you gotta help me find the strength to forgive you."

For what? Trying to get out of your prison?

"You can start by telling me where the other radio is." Carver demanded.

Emily was looking at her sister, or half-sister. I wasn't sure on their relationship exactly.

"Now, I'm going to count to three, and the other radio better be back in my hand by then. One... two..."

Suddenly, Kenny took the radio Clem had hidden and held it high in the air. "I've got it right here!" he announced. We all looked at him with surprise as Carver held out his hand expectantly.

"Don't worry. It's alright." Kenny told Sarita before approaching Carver. "Sorry about that. Not sure what I was thinkin'..."

He dropped the radio into Carver's hand, and as soon as it was in his hand, Carver smirked. "Three."

All of our eyes widened.

Then Carver hit Kenny across the face. Kenny grunted as he fell to the ground.

"No!" Sarita exclaimed. I noticed Emily take a step back in surprise.

Carver glared down at Kenny before he punched him in the eye with the radio, then punched him again even harder.

"Stop!" Nick exclaimed, but Carver just grabbed Kenny by the shirt and continued to beat him.

"Let him go!" Chase yelled.

Sarita rushed forward to try and help Kenny, but Carlos held her back. "No, you'll get hurt, too!"

"Please, let him go!" Sarita pleaded.

"You don't have do this, Bill!" Nick exclaimed

Clementine ran forward to try and help Kenny, but Troy suddenly bashed her in the face with the butt of his rifle, knocking her to the ground. I growled at that, having enough of Troy. "You son of a-!" I roared as I ran at him.

Troy then punched me in the face. As I fell to the ground, he placed a boot on me. "Stay down."

"Get. Off. Me." I growled. Before I knew it, I was back on my feet and Troy was laying on the ground with a new sore on his face. Wait. How?

"What the…?" I asked.

Troy wasted no time getting up. "Why, you-."

Right at that moment, a flock of crows flew overhead, cawing like no tomorrow. It was like what happened back at the lodge, before the walkers came at us.

That was all Troy needed to force me to the ground.

Bonnie then came in. "Bill!" she called, shocked at what was going on. "Bill! There's been a breach!"

Carver hit Kenny with the radio one more time before dropping him to the ground and glaring at us. "No supper for any of you. That'll teach ya. Let's go." He said to his men. Emily, however didn't move. He seemed to notice. "Emily. Come on." he ordered a bit more forcibly.

"No." She said.

Carver narrowed his eyes. "What did you say?"

"I said no." Emily repeated as she came and stood by the group. "I'm staying with them."

Carver glared at her. "Fine, then. Stay with this ungrateful bunch" He told her as he left.

Troy kicked me hard in the gut before following. Bonnie, however, stayed as she checked on Clem and Kenny

"This is going too far." Bonnie said.

"Yeah... yeah, it is." Emily agreed.

I sat up, wincing. "Ow..."

"Carlos... see if you can get Kenny patched up." Bonnie said.

"I'll do what I can." Carlos said as he got to work.

Dylan knelt down by me. "You okay?"

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine..." I winced. I guess our only hope of getting out of here is Clair, now...

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

I slowly came to with a groan.

"You're awake!" I heard Christa say as she knelt by me.

"Wh-what happened?" I asked.

"You passed out."

"Not again..." I muttered.

Christa rose an eyebrow as she helped me up. "This happened before?"

I nodded. "Where's Luke?"

Christa shook his head. "I don't know... he hasn't come back, yet. He went back to Howes to get the radio." Christa said. "He should've been back by now... what the heck?" Only she didn't say heck.

I looked up as soon as I heard them. A flock of crows flying overhead, cawing like no tomorrow. Their presence gave me a bad feeling. Something bad had happened, or was going to happen.

Windrun gave a whinny.

I held my head. "Christa... I think something's gone wrong."

Christa rose an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know... I just have this feeling..." I sighed. "Shortly before Carver took my group, something like this happened. A bunch of crows did this very thing, and we had to deal with a lot of walkers. Then, not long after, Carver showed up."

Christa had a confused expression.

"I don't know how to explain it." I said. "But I can't resist this feeling that we need to get over to Howes now."

"I've spent all morning and all night keeping walkers away while you were in Dreamland." Christa said.

"Sorry about that..." I apologized as I got up. "But we need to get them out now."

Christa sighed, shaking her head. "... alright, then." she relented.

We gathered up our supplies and any excess items were placed on Windrun. Please be safe, guys...

* * *

ANNE'S POV

It was starting to grow a bit dark now.

Carlos was currently treating Kenny, who was lying on a cot unconscious. The rest of us sat around the campfire as Rebecca tried to comfort a crying Sarita.

Clem was lying on a shelf with a cut on her cheek from where Troy had hit her.

I sat near the campfire, deep in thought about what had happened earlier. I just started... fighting. And somehow that knocked Troy flat on his stupid butt. How did I do that...? I thought back to the dream I had. Did that have something to do with it? I clenched my fists. This didn't make any sense. What the heck was going on?

"Something on your mind?" Dylan asked me as he sat down in a spare chair that was by me.

I looked at him. "Sort of, yeah... you see, last night... I had another weird dream... only this time, I was floating down in some kind of black abyss." I said. "Then, I kept finding myself on different pedestals with a Disney princess on each of them."

Dylan looked at me. "I didn't know you were into the Disney princesses."

I shrugged. "I haven't seen those movies in forever. But anyway, in the dream, I heard some sort of voice and I had to choose between this sword, shield, and wand thingy. When I chose, the platform I was on shattered and I was sinking, but found myself on another one. Then I had to fight against those Heartless with the sword." I explained. "And then there was this door and I found myself... home. Except it looked like it did before... before the walkers came. And you were there."

Dylan blinked in surprise. "Me?"

I nodded. "Yeah. You asked me some sort of question and when I answered, you vanished. The same thing happened with Chase in it and after that, I saw... my mom." I muttered on the last part. "After I answered those questions, I was back on a stained-glass platform and more Heartless attacked me. When I defeated them, I ended up on another platform, but this one had CLAIR on it."

"Wait, Clair?!" Dylan asked.

"Yeah! She had some sort of key thing in her hand. But then I was attacked by this HUGE Heartless that had a heart shaped hole in its chest. When I killed it, a wave of darkness washed over me and the last thing I heard before Clem woke me up was that voice saying... I must be ready for what's to come. And... my friend needs help, she's 'forgotten who she truly is'."

"That's some dream." Dylan told me.

I looked at him. "But... something about it didn't feel like a dream. Doesn't feel like a dream. It felt so real. And... you remember how I was somehow able to fight back against Troy earlier?"

Dylan nodded.

"I had NEVER done a move like that before. It's like it came to me out of nowhere."

Dylan looked at me with a confused expression.

I noticed the look. "I'm just as confused as you, Dyl. Anyway-"

I was cut off when Emily and Mike came back from the door. "Bonnie said she's gonna go try and talk to Chris." Emily told us.

"Is he the one with the sunglasses?" Sarah asked, earning a nod from Emily.

"Well, how do we get out of here, now? Most of the herd went towards that explosion the other day." Chase pointed out.

"Yeah, but we don't have a distraction, now." Tess pointed out.

"You act like we could've walked right through them." I deadpanned.

"We could've." Clem said. "Lee and I did it once to get out of Savannah."

"How?" I asked.

"Lee covered us in walker guts to disguise ourselves and we could slip right through them."

"Eww..." I grimaced, shuddering at the thought. That's just disgusting...

"Clair is still out there." Luke reminded us. "And she's with some woman named Christa."

Clem did a double take. "Christa?!" she gasped, gaining our attention.

"Isn't she that lady you were talking about?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, that's her!" Clementine nodded, looking very relieved to know that she was alive.

"Then we'll get out so you can get to her." I promised.

It was then Carlos came back. "How's it lookin', Doc?" Luke asked.

Carlos sighed, crossing his arms. "His orbital is crushed... I don't think there's much hope left for the eye."

Yikes... I glared at the door where somewhere inside Carver was roaming free. He's the one who should be locked up. That monster...

"I brought down the swelling and patched him up the best I could, but now we can only hope for the best." Carlos added

* * *

 **If you enjoyed, please review.**

 **And special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace for helping me write this chapter.**


	22. Chapter 22

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

 **Chris belongs to Chris**

* * *

Chapter 22

ANNE'S POV

"Psst! Anne? Chase? Sarah? You in there?"

My eyes widened. Is that...?!

We turned our attention towards the fence and I gasped as we saw a familiar face. "Clair?!" I whispered before I scrambled over to the fence with Chase and Sarah behind me.

"Thank heaven I found you." Clair said.

"Oh man, you have NO idea how glad we are to see you!" Chase sighed with relief.

"Luke got caught." I told Clair as I looked back at the campfire.

"Crap." She said.

"You can say that again." Chase said.

"We have to get out of here." I told her. "Carver and his guards have been working us like slaves and Carver just beat the crap out of Kenny after he found out about the radio!"

"Are you guys alright?" a woman asked.

Clementine's eyes widened at that and before I knew it, she was already at the fence. "Christa!"

"Clem? Is it really you?"

"It's me."

"Thank goodness..." Christa sighed with relief, looking happy to know that Clementine was alive.

"Is there any way we can sneak inside?" Clair asked.

Clem thought. "I heard something about a door not closing right when I was in Carver's office. Maybe you can get in through there."

"But what if the guards see us?" Christa asked.

"... maybe you can trust Bonnie." Clementine suggested. "She's got red hair tied into a bun."

"Bonnie?" Clair questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Wasn't she one of the ones who captured you with Carver?"

"I think she's having... a change of heart." I said.

Clair looked over my shoulder and saw Emily among the others by the campfire. "She's there, too?"

"She saw what Carver's really like." Chase told Clair. "So he left her in here with the rest of us. You could say she's on our side now."

Clair still looked unsure.

I looked back at the door to make sure no guards were watching before turning back to the two outside the fence. "Listen, be careful when sneaking in." I warned.

Clair nodded. "We'll get you out of there, I swear." she promised us.

"Oh, and Clair? When you get us out, I need to talk to you about something." I told her.

"Okay. As soon as we're out." She said.

I sighed. Good luck...

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

Christa and I snuck away from the gate and towards the door that Clementine mentioned. I could see a guard patrolling on the roof, but I don't think he could see us. I considered putting an arrow in the guard. Wait. What was I thinking? I was contemplating murder! I shook my head, shuddering at that. That was a line I don't want to cross. What happened at the ranch... that was an accident. Wasn't it?

"Clair, help me with this." Christa told me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I quickly headed over before grabbing the door with her.

"One... two... three." Together, we started to lift the door. I prayed it didn't make any noise as we did.

"You go first." Christa told me. I slipped in and grabbed the door for her, also holding it up as best as I could as she quickly slipped through. She then helped me lower it as quietly as possible.

"Whoa." I said as I saw the aisles filled with more food than I had seen since I woke up in that store. "There's enough here to feed an army."

"Holy shoot..." Christa whispered, then shook her head. She didn't say shoot. "We need to stay focused."

I nodded in agreement. "We go in, find our friends, and get out." We crouched down and started to sneak through the store. I peeked around a corner. "Get back!" I quickly said before some guards could spot us. We ducked behind a set of shelves to hide. I dared to take a perk to make sure they weren't looking. It was a couple of guys, same as from the lodge.

"Man, Troy. You should've seen your face when that girl knocked you flat." One guy was saying.

Troy glared at the other guard. "Shut your trap." He growled. "She's going to pay for that."

Who was he talking about…?

"You know how Carver doesn't like us offing new recruits." The other guard said.

"Anne won't be missed."

My eyes widened. Anne hit Troy?

"I can always say a lurker got her. Screw what Carver thinks!"

I shook my head. We needed to get them out of here. And fast.

Once the guards weren't looking, I gestured for Christa to follow me. We stayed low as we snuck past them. Soon, I felt like we put enough distance between us and them. "Okay, where to go next...?" I whispered to myself as I looked around.

"Who are you?" Someone asked. I gasped and whirled around in surprise. Standing behind us was a woman in a vest with red hair tied in a bun. It was her... that one woman that was with them the night Carver captured the others.

"You." I said.

Her eyes widened in recognition and softly gasped. "You..."

"You know each other?" Christa asked.

"She helped Carver catch us." I growled.

The woman, Bonnie, looked down with regret. "I'm... I'm sorry. I didnt know what Carver was really like."

"Anne told me to find you." I said.

"Why?" Bonnie asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" I asked. "We're busting our friends out. Tonight."

Bonnie's eyes widened. After a moment, she said, "I can help you."

"How?" I asked.

"I can distract the guards for a bit to buy you some time..."

"Bonnie!" Carver's voice called out.

Bonnie cursed at that. "Quick. Hide." Christa and I hid behind a stack of crates as I heard footsteps. Bonnie turned to face him. "Carver, what is it?"

"Scouts reported someone incoming. A lone rider. Something about having something we want." Carver said. "I want all rifles on him now."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "Y-Yes, sir..." As she left, Christa and I looked at each other. I hoped to heaven that our rescue mission didn't just get a lot harder.

ANNE'S POV

We heard a lot of commotion going on.

"What the heck is that?" Luke asked, voicing what most of us were probably thinking. He didn't say heck.

Sarah looked outside. "There's a man on horseback."

Nick looked before swearing. "That's the guy from before."

"What guy?" I questioned as I walked to the fence to get a better look. I immediately regretted setting my eyes on him. His whole appearance practically screamed creepy.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Carver called out.

He smirked. "I came to offer you my help."

"Help? What kind of help?" Carver questioned.

For some reason, I got a bad feeling about this guy...

"Making this community the safest place on the planet." The man said.

"We're doing just fine." Carver said. "Besides, why should we accept your help?"

"Because you have someone dangerous inside." The man said. "A girl I've been tracking has snuck inside your community. If I don't get my hands on her, she'll ruin everything you've built."

Carver laughed at that. "I don't buy it."

"I'm not joking. Clair Fay is more dangerous than anyone suspects."

"We don't have her here. Now I suggest you get before I put one through your head."

The guy outside the fence was really starting to creep me out.

"Be warned. If you reject this offer, your community will not survive."

Carver pulled out a gun and shot him in the leg. "Last warning. We don't want or need your help. If we have your girl here, we'll deal with her ourselves. Now get out."

To my horror, the man just straightened his leg and smiled. "You know what? I was hoping you'd say that." Were his words while he pulled the bullet out of his leg.

How... how the heck is he doing that?!

I think Carver was just as surprised. "Open fire!" he yelled.

As the guns fired, the man raised a hand. His shadow seemed to grow out, and from that I saw lots of yellow eyes appear.

I gasped seeing that happen.

"What is that?!" Chase asked as he came over.

"Heartless." I blurted out while watching as hundreds of Heartless emerged from the pool of shadows the man had created. Some leapt up early to take the bullets for their master. With a simple hand motion, the Heartless surged towards the store. Oh, my gosh...

I then heard the door being opened from behind us. I turned to see Clair and an African-American woman with her hair tied in a bun standing there. My eyes widened. "Clair!"

"Christa!" Clementine gasped as she ran to the woman before any of us could react.

She then hugged the woman.

"Am I in heaven?" Kenny asked as he finally got up.

The woman's eyes widened seeing him as she hugged Clementine back. "Holy shoot... Kenny? Is that you?" She didn't say shoot.

Sarita rushed to Kenny's side as he stumbled out of his cot. I winced seeing the bandage around his eye was already bloody. "So, what's been going on?"

"Long story short, we're under attack." Chase said.

"Which is why we gotta-look out!" I pushed Tess out of the way as several of the Heartless things leapt over the fence and into the yard.

Sarah screamed in fear as they came in. Nick and Luke hurriedly helped Rebecca up.

"We've gotta get the hell out of here!" Dylan exclaimed as we started backing away from them. They began to move closer to us. However, Sarah wasted no time in running away.

"Sarah!" Carlos called after her, but this was the one time she didn't listen.

Sarah!" I exclaimed, but she still ran.

We ran after her. However, the Heartless were swarming inside as well. It was hard work, but we managed to push our way through the door to get out of the pen. There were a couple of screams, ahead and behind. I gasped as I saw Sarah had been tackled by some of the Heartless.

"Get off her, you *bleep*!" Kenny yelled. Turning I saw that some of the Heartless had tackled Clem to the ground, and now they were swarming over Kenny, Nick, Luke, Tess, and Emily. Dylan grabbed some cans and tried to use them to punch the Heartless, but they tackled him to the ground as well.

No!" Clair gasped. Christa rushed in to try and help Clementine.

My eyes widened seeing them being tackled by the Heartless. "Guys!"

It was then I was tackled by a Heartless. Then several more swarmed over me. "AGH!" I screamed as I struggled against the yellow eyed creatures. "Get... off me...!" I could hear my friends also yelling as they struggled. No... I had to help them... they needed me... The Heartless that were swarming me were starting to block my vision.

I thought I heard Clair grunting. Was she trying to fight them...? I tried to get up, but the Heartless just kept swarming. I hadn't known her for a long time, but ever since she came to my life, I felt... hopeful. Because of her, I was reunited with friends I thought had died. I will always be grateful to her for that.

There was a flash of light and the Heartless were off me. Huh?! What was that heavy thing I felt? Looking down, I saw that in my hand was this weird giant key.

... wait... WHAT?!

I did a double take as I looked at it. What the heck?! Where did THIS come from?!

I pushed myself upright, staring at the giant key my hand with shock. The Heartless seemed to notice it as well. One attempted to lunge at me. I yelled and knocked it away from me with the giant key. Surprisingly, it worked! And it also destroyed that Heartless!

I looked at the others with a smirk. "You're in for a world of hurt." I then rushed forward and began knocking the Heartless off my friends. With each hit, the Heartless were destroyed. One attempted to attack me, but I jumped to the side to avoid it. This is just like in that dream I had!

"Yeah!" I said. Once the Heartless were off them, I ran to help them up. "You guys okay?!"

Carlos ran over to his daughter. "Sarah? Sweetie? Are you okay?" All he got was a series of whimpers, so he hugged her and spoke comforting words to her.

"Y-yeah... what the heck is that?" Dylan asked me.

I looked at my weapon. "I... I honestly have no idea." Clair looked at me with a surprised expression. "Clair...?"

"A Keyblade?" She asked before she clutched her head. Was she going to have another episode?

I ran over to her. "Clair? Come on. Don't pass out."

My weapon, my Keyblade as she called it, grazed against her arm. I was afraid it was going to cut her, but it didn't. She stopped clutching her head at that.

"You okay?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Then what is this thing?"

"I don't know. But at the same time, I do."

Chris's voice then came on over the intercom. "Attention everyone. This is Chris Carver. Monsters are overrunning the community. Take what you can and get out. THat's an order. Abandon the store now while you can."

"Chris?" Emily asked

Carlos looked at us as he hugged Sarah. "We have to get out of here."

"My thoughts exactly." Tess said.

"No one's going anywhere." A voice said. We looked to see Carver had us cornered.

"Oh no..." Rebecca whispered, holding her hands ovwr her stomach protectively.

The psycho glared at us.

"It's over, Carver." I growled.

"We've had enough of you!" Dylan added.

Carver's response was to start ranting. "You wanna disrespect me? Fine. You wanna throw away the life that I'm trying to build for us all, then fudging fine!" He didn't say fudging. "But I will put a bullet through you and your belly before I let you walk out of here with my child." Carver pointed a gun at Rebecca.

"And what about me? Your son?" Chris stood behind Carver. "No room in your perfect little world for me?"

"No." Carver said as he looked at him. "Ever since I saw you, you've been nothing but a disappointment. Yeah, I took you in. I let you lead my men. Every single task I gave you, you left me wanting for more. And now you tell everyone to run away from these... monsters."

I swear Chris's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "You'd have them die?"

"No. Just you." With a quick raise of his gun Carver fired three rounds AT CHRIS!

"OH MY GOSH!" Emily and Tess gasped, except they didn't say gosh. Sarah screamed in fear. However, before any of us could react, there was a bright flash around Chris, and when my eyes cleared I saw some sort of bluish barrier around Chris, and three flat bullets on the ground. All of our eyes widened at that.

Clair held her head in pain, and started to fall forward, but I quickly grabbed her. "Hang in there." I told her before looking at Chris. "Go! Lead the others to safety."

"Not yet. We won't be safe while he's alive." Chris glared at his father. At least I think he did behind those shades. "You left my mother to die. You let those demons tear her apart! Why? Didn't you love her?"

The madman got over any shock he had at the barrier that had appeared around his son. "She was weak." Carver said. "She was a detriment to the community. She proved he had no place when she acted against my orders. If we are to move forward, we can afford no roadblocks."

I felt like I was going to be sick. "You… You MONSTER! You killed your own wife?!"  
"There are always other women. All she would've done is held the community back."  
I tightened my grip around my Keyblade. "Is that why you murdered Reggie? Is that why you beat Alvin to death?"

Rebecca's eyes widened. "Alvin?!"

Clem nodded. "He was in Carver's office, in a chair."

"Dead now." Carver said. "I killed him not too long ago."

Rebecca had a pained expression. "No... no..."

Carver then pointed his gun at Clair. "You're responsible for these monsters, so you are gonna pay."

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

I had never known fear than when I saw that gun pointed at my head. Carver sneered as he aimed it at me. I could feel my heart beating faster out of fear.

"She didn't bring them here!" Anne exclaimed

"But they're here because of her." Carver said.

"Cause that weirdo out there sent them!" Chase said

Carver pulled the trigger. I heard the bang, but something blocked it. I saw Anne was holding her Keyblade and had stopped it. How do I know that it's called a Keyblade?

She looked just as surprised, but glared at Carver. "If you want her, you're gonna have to go through me."

"I'll dig one hole." Carver said as he pointed the gun at her.

* * *

 **Edit 5/1/2018: I decided to change things to where Chris survives. Clair's magic acted up and created a Barrier around him to protect him from Carver's bullets. The fact that I killed him off has been eating at me, and I felt like I need to correct this. Sorry I didn't think of the Barrier spell sooner.**

 **And special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace for helping write this chapter. Next time, it's Anne vs. Carver.**


	23. Chapter 23

**I apologize for the delay. I was going to stop doing FanFictions so I could work on my book, but I encountered a problem. So until I get that resolved, I'll be back to working on FanFictions.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Chapter 23

ANNE'S POV

"I gave you a place of safety!" Carver snarled as he shot at me. I managed to block every single bullet with my Keyblade, not sure how though. It was like this thing was an extension of me, and it could see things I couldn't. I did glare at Carver with emotions I never knew I had. At first I just hated him, but the longer I held my Keyblade, the more they changed. Yeah, I was still angry, but it wasn't… what I was used to. I thought of how he treated everyone, including his family, as tools for his own agenda. How he murdered other survivors if they didn't meet his criteria. My anger was no longer because of how he treated me. It was because of how he treated everyone else, and would continue to treat them unless he was stopped. I was angry at him because of the evil actions he had done, and how he was not penitent about them.

"You call this place protection?" I asked. "You're just pointing a gun at our heads like we're nothing more than hostages for your ideal world." With that, I ran forward, swinging my Keyblade. I don't know how, but my weapon sliced through his gun like it was made of butter. I then kicked him back, causing him to slam into a shelf of assorted items. I then held the point of my weapon to his heart. "And I don't consider that protection."

Carver laughed. "Go on. Finish me. I know you want to. I can see it in your eyes. That's what it takes to survive."

A part of me wanted to kill him. I wanted to make him pay for what he did to Matt. To Walter. To Reggie. But… no. This wasn't right. There was nothing just about killing him in cold blood. If I did, I was no better than he was. I pulled my weapon away. "No. That's the easy way out. You don't deserve that." Turning to Chris, I said, "Gather up those you can. Evacuate as many people as you can before this place falls." With a nod, Chris turned and ran through the store, disappearing from sight.

"Come on, Anne. I know you want to." He tried to goad me. "I know you're more than some idealist like my son. You know what needs to be done."

I just turned my back to him, showing Carver my middle finger as I did. "Let's go, guys."

"Not yet." Kenny found a crowbar and moved over to Carver. "Go on and wait outside. You don't need to see this."

"Yes, I do." Tess said.

I looked at him. "No, Kenny." Yet, I felt like that Kenny was right in a way. Carver would only hurt more people. But who was I to pass judgement like that? In my heart, I knew that I was not the one who could decide his fate. But then who?

Clem, the voice of reason, spoke up. "Kenny, we don't have time for this."  
"I'm making time." He replied with a coldness that scared me.

"Kenny, we need to get out of here." Clair said, speaking the truth.

"This will only take a second."

"Let's go." Clem told us. The only ones who stayed behind were Kenny, Rebecca, and Tess, for their own reasons. Carver called after us, taunting us, wanting us to stay and watch the show. I just drowned him out by humming my favorite songs.

As we opened the doors, Nick did a double take. "Oh, shoot!" Only he didn't say shoot.

"What? What is it?" I asked. "Oh, crap." I soon saw. The same Heartless from before, the one from my dream, was now standing outside, and it was looking at us intently.

Dylan looked at me. "Is that…?"

I nodded. "The monster from my nightmare."

"What nightmare?" Emily asked.

"It's a long story." I said as I held up my Keyblade. The monster held up its fist and punched it into the ground. I ran forward and began to slice the creature's fist. "Go!" At my word, the group began to run across the parking lot.

"What the heck?" Kenny asked as he came out. Only he didn't say heck. I noticed Rebecca and Tess were also out now, and they were horrified at the sight of the monster.

"Get out of here!" I roared at them while I noticed several of the smaller ones coming up. Shadows. How did I know their name? No time for that now. I jabbed one two times before slicing it, and repeating the process with another. That gave the three of them time to put some distance between them and the Heartless. But now they were focusing their attention on me.

The huge Heartless pulled back its fist, and then I heard the sound of guns firing. Guess some people didn't take Chris's warning to get out, and were trying to fight off these things. I saw some of the Heartless get shot, but it didn't seem to do anything more than annoy them. Some of the Shadows flattened themselves, and to my horror began to move into the store. I heard screams from inside as people were attacked.

I turned to help them, but the fist of the gigantic Heartless blocked my path. Growling, I began jabbing the thing like no tomorrow. I also swung my weapon, trying to slice this thing's cursed hand off. It pulled back, and as a result I leapt up to keep slicing. Whoa. I realized something when I landed. I had never jumped that high before. That was like something a basketball player would've done. How?

"What the fudge is going on here?" Troy asked as he ran out. Only he didn't say fudge. He aimed his rifle at me when he saw me. "You."

"Troy, as much as I would love to kick your butt, now's not the time!" I growled as I leapt up again. "You have to get out of here."

"Why should I listen to you?" Troy put his finger on the trigger. "I've been looking forward to this ever since I saw you." Before he could fire, the big Heartless slammed its fist down again. More of the Shadows came crawling out of the impact site, and then leapt onto Troy. I watched as one of them plunged its claws into his chest, pulling out something red and crystalline in appearance. Was that his heart? I was expecting the organ.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw one of the Heartless consume the crystalline heart. The shadows then merged around Troy, covering him completely. When they receded, all that was left was another one of the Heartless, but this one was different. It had armor on, and had this heart-shaped insignia on it.

My eyes widened. Oh my gosh. Troy had been… turned into one of those things. I never liked the guy, and he was such a… well, jerk, but somehow I couldn't help but feel Troy just got handed a fate worse than death. Something that to me felt like not even he deserved.

Gripping my Keyblade, I lunged at the huge Heartless. I ended up leaping up to its head where I buried my weapon deep into its head until it was up to the guard, and then I tried to force it through some more. Needless to say, that did the trick. The monster vanished, turning into wisps of shadow and darkness. However, with nothing to stand on, I fell to the ground.

"Ow!" I groaned as I hit the asphalt. I could still hear shooting. Looking up, I saw the people still inside were falling to the Heartless. It was too late for them now. There was nothing we could do. They were told to evacuate, but they didn't take the warning. Now they were paying the price. And I could do nothing. Oh, my heart was in pain, feeling like it was being twisted. At least the others are-.

"DAD! DAAAAAADDDDD!"

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

I was moving along with Sarah, Clem, and Carlos. We started to split up when the Heartless began to show up, hoping to lure them away from the others. I could feel my head pounding at the sight of them, but it wasn't threatening to explode into one of my episodes. We did not need to worry about that now.

"It's going to be okay, sweetie." Carlos was saying. "The monsters aren't going to get us."

"How do you know that?" Sarah asked.

I looked at her. "As long as we keep happiness in our hearts, the Heartless won't be interested in us."

"How can you be sure?" Clem asked me.

I shrugged. "I… I don't know. But when I touched that Keyblade… I think… I remembered stuff."

Sarah stopped. "You remember?"

"Bits and pieces. Like parts of a jigsaw. Some pieces are now in place, but there's still lots of holes. But we can't focus on that now. If I have another episode we're all going to be in trouble."

Carlos nodded. "We'll figure it out later." He then looked at his daughter. "Sarah? Sweetie? Do you remember where to go?"

"To the park thing. The memorial." Sarah said.

"That's right. The Civil War memorial spot." Carlos said. "We'll all meet up there."

"And be safe?"

"It'll be safer than right here." I said as we resumed moving. I could hear the sounds of guns being fired, but a quick look told me that they were no longer firing outside, but were trying to fight off the Heartless inside. I hope that some of the people would get out, but I had a nagging suspicion they would not.

"Nowhere is safe for you." The figure from before appeared before me. We stopped where we were, and looked at him in fear. I could tell from his expression and the look in his eyes that whatever he was, it wasn't a friend.

Carlos stood protectively in front of his daughter. "Who are you, and what do you want with us?"

"You? Since you've chosen to associate yourselves with her, I think I want your lives. As for who I am, consider me your executioner." He had an obnoxious smirk on. "Although, I may be lenient, if you leave Clair right here, right now."

Clem glared at him. "We're not doing anything you say."

"Then you've made your choice."

"Sarah, stay behind me." Carlos said as he looked at the man. "Look, we're-." Whatever Carlos was going to say, the man cut him off by pulling out a dagger and plunging it into his head!

"DAD! DAAAAAADDDDD!" Sarah screamed as her father fell dead. My eyes widened. Not Carlos! He was one of the best in our group, and now he was dead. I grabbed his body as it fell, staring into his cold, lifeless eyes. They were shocking to see, as if somewhere a part of him had been wondering why I had done nothing to help. I felt accused, stained, like I had been the one who killed him.

Sarah was still screaming as I closed Carlos's eyes. "I'm sorry." I told him as I looked at Clem and Sarah. "Get out of here, now."

"What about you?" Clem asked.

I pulled out one of my bowie knives and glared at the man. "He's mine."

"Oh, there it is. I thought she was gone completely, but no. Here she is. The person I remembered. The one who threatened to kill me."

"That's the difference between you and me." I growled. "I don't want to kill, but you're proving to be a threat. You stole the life of a good man. A father."

"So? Families are overrated."

At those words I gave that cry that somewhere deep inside made me feel proud of who I was. I then leapt up and tackled the man, knocking him from his horse. His obnoxious smirk was wiped from his face as we both hit the asphalt. Not wasting any time, I brought my knife up and plunged it into his heart. I looked up to see Sarah running off into the woods, Clem chasing her.

"Clair?" I turned to see Anne running up to me. "Clair, what did you…?"

"I… I just lost control. Something he said… huh?" I stopped because I felt movement beneath me. Afraid he was turning, I got off of him and pulled out my tomahawk. However, he just sat up and pulled the knife out of him.

"So, tell me." He said in a nonchalant tone. "After you kill me, what is it you plan on doing?"

I just stared in horror, my mouth gaping open. He should've been dead, but there he was, sitting there holding a knife covered with blood that two seconds ago was in his heart. How was he still alive?! I got my answer as the clouds moved away, exposing the moon. In the light of it, I saw something horrible. He changed from a man to… a skeleton?!

"Now you see." He smirked. "The moon now shows me for who I am. I am not among the living, and so I cannot die. But neither am I dead. I feel nothing. Not the wind in my face, or the cold blade of a knife."

"Wait. I saw this before." Anne thought. "Yeah. That one movie. _Pirates of-_." She was cut off as she heard snarling. "Oh, shoot!" She turned to see walkers coming from the forest. The gunshots must've brought them to our location.

The man smirked. "The best part about this is? They won't attack me." A huge black oval opened up behind him, and the man crawled into it. It then vanished as soon as he was inside, leaving us with the walkers.

Anne screamed as a walker grabbed her by the hair. The sound was starting to attract more, and she was swinging her Keyblade wildly. Grabbing my knife from where the man dropped it when he left, I ran to my friend and swung my knife at the walker's hand. It missed, but instead sliced through Anne's hair, causing the walker to fall backwards. Reacting quickly, I plunged my knife into its skull, killing it.

"No!" Anne shouted. I looked back to see she was clutching at her bandana, trying to keep it from falling off. She glared at me with her eye. "What did you do?"

"Saved your—AAAHHH!" I screamed as the walker attacked me. I grabbed its neck to keep it from sinking its teeth into me, but it was quickly overpowering me. A whoosh knocked it off of me, and then Anne was standing over it, pulling its lower jaw out. She also used her Keyblade to slice off its arms.

"Now you can't bite anyone." She growled as she pulled it up. "Walk behind me. Stay close." She sounded like she was tempted to throw me to the walkers, but I was so grateful that she didn't. With her leading the way, we pushed our way through the walkers that had been attracted by the noise. To my surprise, they didn't molest us. Guess being in close proximity to this one kept us invisible to the others. As soon as the last of the walkers was behind us, Anne shoved it to the ground and used her Keyblade to make sure it wouldn't get back up. She then stormed off into the woods, with me following. Not once did she turn to look at me.

* * *

 **I included a line suggested by SORARULEZ23 as his reward for finding the Disney reference before. Another one is in here, but it's too obvious where it comes from. At any rate, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I may not take as long next time.**


	24. Chapter 24

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

 **Special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace for helping me write this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 24

CLAIR'S POV

Some time had passed since we had escaped from Howe's, since it was now sometime in the morning.

Anne was still walking ahead of me. She hadn't said a single word to me during the trek as she held the now torn bandanna over her eye with her other hand holding her Keyblade. My mind still had so many questions. How did I know that it was a Keyblade? Why did it keep me from having another one of my episodes? And why was it the only weapon that seemed to effectively destroy the Heartless. Sure the guns did some damage, but it just seemed like it took more bullets to stop those things than people can afford to spend.

And why did she have one?

These questions raced through my head as we walked.

"Anne?" I tried, with no response. "Anne?"

She still didn't reply, looking straight ahead. So I quickened my pace to catch up with her.

"Anne, come on, talk to me."

"About what?" She growled.

"What was that back there?" I questioned, a bit surprised by her tone. She glared at me. If looks could kill, the walkers would stay dead. I nearly took a step back in surprise. What's gotten into her? "Anne, I'm sorry I cut your bandana. I was aiming for the walker's hand. I didn't mean to cut it."

She turned to face me, holding up her bandana. "It doesn't matter. You destroyed this." She kept her right eye out of sight, though, before quickly covering it again. "Maybe it would've been better if you stayed away." She growled as she kept walking.

"All because of an accident?" I asked.

"Because of all the fantasy junk you've brought."

Those words stung. "You're blaming me for all this?" I caught up to her. "What's your problem?!"

Anne just grumbled.

"What? I cut your bandanna and suddenly I'm worse than that Carver creep?" I asked. "You can't blame me for what's been going on."

"Yes, I can."

"But that doesn't mean you should!" I snapped. "I have no idea what is going on. I don't know why that man, or demon, or whatever he is, is chasing me, why I fear the Heartless so much, or why your new Keyblade is the only thing that can stand up to them. I don't even remember my own birthday! Or my family! They could be dead, or walkers, or heaven knows what, but I can't remember a stupid thing because every time I try I pass out. Do you have any idea how frustrating and maddening that is? And here you are treating me like a criminal just because I gave you an unwanted haircut that not only saved your life but cut some stupid piece of fabric!"

Anne's uncovered eye widened at those words. "This isn't some stupid piece of fabric!" She yelled back at me.

"What's so important about it that you blame me for something like this?!" I snapped, shoving her lightly. It made her stumble a bit.

"Because this has brought me nothing but pain and misery!" She then took her bandanna off and showed me her eye. To my surprise, instead of a nasty scar, blind eye, or empty eye socket, I saw an eye that was differently colored compared to her other eye. It was an unnatural blood red. "I need that because of this!"

"Because of your red eye?"

"Yes! Because of my heterochromia!" Anne then sat down on a log with an exasperated sigh, clenching her fist as she did.

I looked at her from where I stood.

"Before everything went to heck, I used to be mocked because of this eye. They called me names, said I was a freak. I started wearing this bandana to try to get them to stop. It didn't work. They'd even beat me up, just because of this." she said, not looking up at me. "I kept it hidden so it wouldn't happen again. But it only made things worse."

"Why do you still keep it, then?" I asked, slowly calming down.

"Cause I don't want the same process to happen ever again." she answered.

I crouched down so I could be face-to-face with her. "I think your eyes are cool. Both of them."

Anne looked down, all traces of anger gone and replaced by dejectedness. "... I'm sorry. What I said back there was totally uncalled for..."

I looked down. "I shouldn't have snapped. It's just... the earliest thing I remember is waking up to a world where the dead walk and eat everything in sight, except for vegetation, and learn there's a homicidal maniac on the loose who can summon demons from heck who has it in for me. It's just so... maddening."

"That's definitely rougher..." Anne said, then sighed with a regretful look. "If you wanna hit me for what I said, go ahead."

I'll be honest, that was tempting. But after hearing her story, I decided not to. Instead, I hugged her. "I'm sorry. For what happened to you, and for yelling at you."

Anne's eyes widened in surprise. "Why are you hugging me?" She asked.

I pulled out of it. "I... something inside me says its what friends do to comfort each other."

She was surprised when I said that. "You think… we're friends? Even after what I said?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I do."

She hesitated for a moment before hugging me as well. "Thank you..." She said. "I almost forgot... what it was like to have a friend."

After a moment, we broke the hug.

Anne then touched her hair. "I never liked my hair short, but I guess this'll keep the walkers from grabbing me again."

I sighed. "Then I'd better take care of something." Pulling out my knife with one hand, I grasped my ponytail in the other, and with a swift motion cut it off. "If you're going to have to have short hair, so will I."

Anne's jaw dropped at that. "Y-You just…?"

"Cut my hair? Yeah." I grabbed one of my braids and prepared to do the same thing, but Anne grabbed my wrist to stop me from even raising the blade. I was a bit surprised by that action. "What are you doing?" I questioned.

"Don't cut your braids." She told me.

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But they look like something you should keep. Like Clem's hat."

I let go of my braid at that.

"Let's get going." Anne said. "The others can't be too far ahead."

I nodded. "You're right..." I said as we got back up, resuming our trek, this time side by side.

"So... are we good? Y'know, about what happened back there?" Anne asked me.

I nodded. "I try to not hold a grudge."

"Alright..." Anne nodded, looking down at the ground. She ran a hand through her now shorter hair. "Does this look okay on me?"

I'm going to be honest. A knife isn't the best way to cut hair. "Well... I can't say. I'm not a stylist."

"Oh..." she muttered, looking back ahead with one hand clutching her torn bandanna, the other clutching her Keyblade. "... any idea how much farther?"

We heard a snort and saw Windrun approach us from the woods.

"Windrun..." I smiled with relief as he approached us. As soon as he was close, I gently pet his snout.

Anne noticed something strapped among the various things on Windrun's back. "Is that my guitar?!" she gasped.

I nodded. "Yeah. After Carver captured the group, I went back and gathered our stuff."

"Believe it or not, a raccoon actually led me to it. Something told me that I should bring your guitar along."

"Oh my gosh... thank you, Clair..." Anne told me sincerely.

I smiled. "You're welcome."

That's when Windrun decided to lick her across the face.

Anne grimaced in disgust. "Ew! What was that for?!"

I couldn't help but giggle at that.

She groaned as she wiped her face while Windrun stood there as if nothing happened.

"Do you know where the others are?" I asked Windrun. In response he turned and began walking back into the woods.

Anne and I exchanged a look before we followed the horse.

* * *

After some time, the forest started to thin out, and I could see an open area. I think I could also see a few figures there. And it looked like there were walls, and a few tents, with a building in the background.

One of them looked our way. I could see that it was Chase. "They made it!" He then ran towards us. I noticed Anne closed her right eye as he came towards us.

"Hi, Chase..." I greeted.

"Hey." he smiled, then noticed something. "Hey, what happened to your hair, guys?"

"Oh. That... well... walker grabbed my hair. Clair cut it to save me." Anne explained.

Anne groaned before looking around. "Is everyone here?"

"No. We got ambushed on our way up here. One of the walkers got Sarita." Chase said sullenly.

Our eyes widened in shock. "Oh no..." Anne whispered.

Chase looked back. "Yeah... Kenny's not handling it well."

"What about Sarah?" I asked. "She lost her father to that... that... whatever he was."

Chase's eyes widened. "Carlos is dead?"

"Some psycho killed him. Clair attacked him, but it didn't even faze the guy." Anne explained. "When he was in the moonlight, he looked like a freaky skeleton."

"Holy crap..." Chase whispered.

"Are Sarah and Clementine here?" I asked.

Chase shook his head.

"Clem arrived with Jane and Rebecca, but left not too long ago to look for the others with Jane."

"Who's missing?" I asked.

Chase counted them off. "Nick, Luke, Sarah..."

"What about Dylan, Tess, and Emily?" Anne asked.

Chase gestured over his shoulder. "They're over there..."

She sighed when she heard that. "Thank goodness."

Dylan noticed us and jogged right over. "You made it! Are you okay?"

"We're fine, Dylan. Don't worry." Anne nodded.

I looked back into the woods. I didn't feel good about leaving our friends out there. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned to see Chase was the owner of it. "Don't worry. They'll be back." He told me.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded in reply.

I looked at Anne for confirmation, but she was busy talking with Dylan. I couldn't tell what they were talking about.

"Come on." Chase made an 'after you' motion gesturing towards the park thing.

I hesitated for a moment before following him.

The others who were there seemed to be discussing someone.

"...I dunno if he's gonna be okay to travel."

Who were they talking about?

"He even snapped at Clem."

"Guy's totally losing it."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Kenny yelled at Clementine after what happened to Sarita." Chase informed me.

I blinked. "Why? She was trying to help Sarah after..." I hated remembering last night. Carlos did not deserve to die. We didn't get off to a great start, but still.

Chase shook his head. "She ran into us while we were escaping. Walker bit down on Sarita's wrist, so Clem cut it off."

I gasped. "She what?!"

"That's what you need to do if you get bitten. Cut the limb off. It'll stop the infection from spreading." Chase sighed. "It didn't work as she'd hoped it would, I guess."

I was shocked at what I had heard.

"Kenny flipped out when that happened."

Great. Not only was I causing my group problems, I was also driving them apart. "I need to talk to him."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"It's my fault the walkers came back."

Chase rose an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

"The battle with the Heartless. That man. The gunshots attracted the walkers. I know noise lures them like moths to a flame, and we could've gotten out if the Heartless didn't show up. All I know about them is they're after me. Sarita's death is on my hands."

"Clair, it's not your fault." Chase told me.

I looked at him. "Yes, it is. I-."

He put a finger over my mouth.

My eyes widened at that.

"Let it go." He told me. "Nothing can change what happened."

* * *

Some time later, the rest of our group arrived. Anne and I had settled down, and were just fixing each other's hair. No one had a pair of scissors, so I had to pull out my other knife and use both to try and trim Anne's hair down. Now she was doing the same for me.

"Oh, that's right." Anne suddenly said. "Remember when I said I had something to tell you before we escaped Carver's?"

I rose an eyebrow. "Yeah? What was it?"

"I had this really weird dream the other day..."

I turned my head. "What was it about...?"

"I was falling through some kind of dark abyss, then I was on some sort of stained-glass pillars. I heard this weird voice in the dream... it had me choose between a sword, a shield, and I think a staff and which to give up. I chose the sword, and gave up the staff. Then I ended up on another pillar and I had to fight those Heartless, the Shadows. Once they were defeated, I got sucked into some sort of pool of darkness and found myself on another one. There, I went through a door, and thought I was back home. Only I wasn't.

"I saw Chase, Dylan, and... my mom. They asked me some sort of questions. Then I ended up back on that stained-glass pillar and had to fight a couple more Shadows. These stairs appeared and I decided to follow them. I ended up on another pillar, but this one... it had you on it, Clair..."

That caught me by surprise. "What?"

Anne nodded, confirming what I had heard. "Yeah. You were in it, but you looked a little younger. And you were wearing a different outfit. Not to mention you had a giant key in your hand. It looked like a sword."

I blinked. "You mean... you saw me having something like that?"

"Yeah... I think that thing in your hand... it must have been a Keyblade, too." Anne said as she looked at me. "But after I saw that, a huge Heartless suddenly appeared and attacked me. It was the same one that attacked us in the parking lot."

I shuddered. "This is too weird."

"Yeah..." Anne agreed. "I had to fight that thing, but once it was defeated, I was caught in a wave of darkness. But then that voice spoke to me again. It told me... that I needed to help you. That... you have forgotten who you truly are."

I looked down. I didn't know what to think... I don't remember anything... How could I be connected to the Keyblade? To all this magic?

"Before I woke up..." Anne added. "The last thing the voice told me was to help you remember, or all is lost. I have no idea what it meant by that." With a sigh, she added, "I don't understand what's going on, but I swear by all that's possible that I'm going to help you remember."

She sat down next to me once she finished trimming my hair.

"You mean it?" I asked with surprise.

She nodded in reply. "I think I may have a key to that. Literally." She joked. "Remember in Howes? You recognized the Keyblade."

I nodded. "But I don't know how." I said.

Anne summoned it and handed it to me. "Try holding it."

I hesitated for a moment before I reached for it. When I took it from Anne I hoped that my memories would come flooding back. However, nothing happened. "Nothing."

Anne blinked. "I... thought that would work."

I sighed. "I don't remember anything." Was all I said as I handed it back to her.

Anne held it in her hand again. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay." I said.

* * *

 **I am still thinking about how to have Clair regain her memories. I don't want to go the route of True Love's Kiss, even though that's Disney, because:**

 **1\. It's been done so many times it's no longer clever**

 **2\. I want to be different with this.**

 **If you have any ideas on how to have her regain her memories, I would love to hear them.**


	25. Chapter 25

**I apologize for the delay. I was trying to finish up an RP before working on the chapter with AquaDestiniesEmbrace. Thanks again for helping write this.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

ANNE'S POV

I jumped when we heard a scream. Looking around, I saw Rebecca was clutching her stomach. Oh no. My eyes widened. Does that mean what I think it does?! Clair and I ran over to Rebecca, while Clem and Kenny came out of the tent the latter was hiding in. "Are you okay?' I asked her.

She just winced, holding her stomach.

"How does it feel?" Mike asked.

"It feels wet. THat's how it feels." Rebecca snapped.

"What's going on?" Clem asked.

Clair looked at her. "The stork is landing."

"What?"

I sighed. "Rebecca's water broke. Which means the baby's coming now."

Clementine's eyes widened. "Uh oh..."

"What do we do, guys?" Chase asked.

"Kenny?" Bonnie asked, looking over at the man, who seemed lost in thought.

"All right. All right. Gimme a sec." Kenny said.

"We need to find somewhere secure for her." Emily said.

"Safe from walkers." Jane agreed. "She's going to make a lot of noise. And they'll be able to smell her too."

"Maybe blankets, too." I added to the list. "For her and the baby."

"Don't forget the water." Kenny said. "We're gonna need it."

Clair counted off the list. "Shelter, water, and blankets."

Tess looked around. "Now to hope we can find all that here."

"Okay, now to figure out who's doing what." Dylan noted.

"The museum could be a start." Bonnie said.

Luke nodded. "Good idea. Mike, think you could go with her?"

"Sure thing." Mike said.

"I'll go too." Emily said.

"The map said that there's a gift shop nearby. I'll go check it out." Jane offered.

"Okay then." Luke said. "Kenny, you, uh... stick with Rebecca. And I will check the perimeter for walkers."

"Nick, you and Tess stick around to help Kenny with Rebecca if he needs it."

"You got it." Nick said. I was still glad to see he made it back as well. Something told me he was a source of strength for Tess.

"Sarah-"

Luke cut himself off when he noticed Sarah curled up in a ball by a brick wall that was falling apart.

"Sarah. You stay here with Rebecca, Kenny, Nick, and Tess."

"What about us?" Dylan questioned.

Luke thought about it. "Well, you could help out with Mike and Bonnie if you want. Unless you have other ideas in mind." he suggested.

"I'd like to check on Sarah." Clair said.

I looked at her when she said that. Sarah did look like she needed someone to talk to. "That's a good idea, Clair. When Carver was taking us back to his place, she was confident you would help us. She'll probably listen to you." I said, nodding with approval.

She seemed surprised at that. "She had that much faith in me?"

Chase nodded. "She did. And she was right to have it."

"Wow..."

Bonnie looked at Clem.

"Clem, can I talk to you for a second?"

Clem looked over at us before she nodded, walking to the side with the redhead.

I wasn't sure I should listen in to their conversation. I scratched the back of my head, trying to figure out what to do.

"Hey, what happened to your bandana?" Dylan asked me as he finally noticed that my face was free of the cloth.

Clair and I exchanged a look. "A walker grabbed her hair." Clair said. "I tried to cut the hand off, but I missed. I kind of got the bandana. And her hair."

"Oh." Dylan said.

"Its alright." I waved it off, having forgiven Clair for it, but I still felt pretty bad about what I had said back in the woods. "Right now what's important is getting the stuff for Rebecca."

He nodded. "Right. If we're lucky, we might be able to find some things left over around here."

With that, we all headed off to our various responsibilities. I was trying to figure out what to do to help out. Maybe I could help Clair or someone with something...

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

I knelt down before Sarah. "Hey."

Sarah seemed to have a vacant stare before snapping out of it, seeing me. "H-Hi, Clair..." she muttered as she stopped rocking herself back and forth.

I wish I knew what to say. Do I console her about her father? Or ask what happened before she got here? "Are... are you okay...?" I hesitantly asked her.

"W-Why did that man do that...? Why'd he do it to my dad?" she asked, wiping away some stray tears.

I looked down. "...I don't know. I wish to heaven that I knew, but I don't."

"I want Daddy to come back..." Sarah whimpered as more tears fell from her eyes as they started to look red and puffy. "I miss him..."

I couldn't imagine her pain. But then, I found words to speak. "He's not truly gone."

Sarah looked up with surprise. "H-He's not...?"

"He's still with you." I then gestured to her heart. "In here."

She looked at where I gestured. "In my heart...?"

I nodded.

She looked confused. "But... how can he...?"

"His love for you remains, so his spirit is kind of with you." I tried to explain. "Hold on to the memories you have of him. And in a way, he'll still be with you."

She placed a hand tenderly over her heart. "He's still here..."

I nodded. "Always remember that." I don't know why those words came to me. But I felt like they had to be said. And it seemed to help Sarah a bit.

"I never gave up." She said. "I kept telling the others you'd come, and you did."

Her words touched me, bringing a smile to my face. "Thank you." I told her. "For believing in me."

She slowly seemed to snap out of it. "Y-You're welcome... I knew you wouldn't leave on purpose again..."

Rebecca groaned in pain.

Sarah looked over at the pregnant woman. "Is... is she gonna be okay...?"

"We're gonna do our best to make sure that both her and her baby will be alright." I assured her. "Luke's making sure none of the dead come here."

She looked at me. "But what about... the monsters?"

I looked down. "I don't know... we'll do our best to keep them back if they come."

"I saw that key-thingie Anne has works on them..." Sarah said.

I nodded. "Just like magic."

"What about that creepy guy that was outside Carver's...?" Sarah then asked.

I shrugged. "I'm not sure, honestly. But he scares me."

* * *

ANNE'S POV

I stood to the side, staring at my Keyblade as I held it in my hand. I then glanced over at where Clair and Sarah were. I could see Sarah had seemed to calm down. Guess Clair managed to help her… That was a relief.

Dylan then came over to talk to me. "Anne?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Uh... sure."

We both walked to the side to speak.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"It's about... well, what happened last night. And when the baby's born..."

I rose an eyebrow

"Last night, when that huge thing appeared... you did moves I never saw you do before."

I shrugged. "Maybe it's cause of the Keyblade. Or whatever that dream was. I honestly don't understand myself."

Dylan crossed his arms. "Well, whatever this Keyblade is, it's pretty effective."

"No argument there." I said.

"Clair seemed to know what it is..."

I nodded. "I thought maybe if I let her hold it, she'd remember some more, but it didn't work."

"Shoot." Only Dylan didn't say shoot.

"We'll help her remember, somehow." I vowed.

He nodded. "Think we should check on the others?"

I thought for a moment, then agreed. "Yeah, we should." We decided to head to where the museum was. Thankfully, there was a sign pointing in the direction it was at. The building was easy to spot. However, next to it were a bunch of headstones. I shivered at the sight. "Let's hope these are fake. I don't want corpses digging themselves up next."

"Don't jinx it, please..." Dylan told me, looking a bit disturbed. "These gravestones look pretty old..."

I poked the ground with my Keyblade. Nothing happened, so I took that as a good sign. "Okay, we're in the clear."

"Good thing Chase isn't here, otherwise he'd be making some cracks about that." Dylan remarked. A chuckle escaped my lips.

"Yeah." We then entered the museum. Mike and Bonnie were there currently scavenging around while Emily was keeping a lookout. "Hey guys." I greeted.

The two of them looked up. "Oh, hey." Bonnie said.

"Did you guys find anything yet?"

Mike shook his head. "Nope. Nothing."

"You'd think a national park would've had some supplies somewhere." Dylan said.

Emily nodded. "Unless people already looted this place for everything it had."

"Well, guess we better pitch in." I said, heading over to a spot to check. While looking through the shelves, I noticed some little souvenirs. I looked at some of them. Hm. A couple hoodies... a wallet or two... and a couple keychains… Keychains... hmmm... I looked at the keychain attached to my Keyblade. It was shaped like some kinda throwing star… I picked up one of the keychains. I chuckled when I saw it had my name on it. "Hey, guys, check it out." I held it up for them to see.

Bonnie smiled. "Good find."

That was when the craziest thing happened. The keychain flew out of my hand and attached itself to my Keyblade.

This caught all of us by surprise.

"WHAT THE-" I gasped.

In a flash, my Keyblade changed. I had to shield my eyes from the light, but when the light died down, I was surprised at what my Keyblade looked like now. It had a Civil War theme, with the guard now looking like the combined wheels of a wagon or a canon. The blade seemed to be a combination of a cannon barrel and rifle, with three bayonet spikes forming the teeth.

"Uh... what just happened?" Mike asked.

"I... have no freaking clue." I replied as I held the Keyblade out for them to see. "It just... changed."

Dylan crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. "It had to do with that keychain… Like it was pulled to it."

I looked at him. "What are you saying?"

Dylan shrugged. "I could be wrong, but maybe any keychain can be attached to that thing."

My jaw actually dropped at that. "No way..."

"Maybe you should keep an eye out for more keychains, then." Dylan added. Bonnie nodded in agreement.

Emily looked at us. "Could you hurry it up? I'd rather not be here any longer than I have to, in case some corpses come along."

I looked at the Keyblade, wondering what else it could do. "Huh..." I wondered if I should test it out. I walked over to Mike. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get this door open."

I looked at my Keyblade. I wonder...?

Suddenly, it moved on its own, pointing at the keyhole and a beam of light shot out of it and into the lock. A click was heard, much to our surprise.

"Now THAT is useful." Mike said.

I smirked as I opened the door... only for a walker to come snarling through. "HOLY CRAP!" I gasped, taking a step back. It tried to bite me, but I used my Keyblade to hold it back. It growled as it tried to grab me, but luckily, its arms were out of range. I grunted as I tried to push it back.

"Get off her!" Dylan grabbed it before he shoved it back, causing it to lose whatever balance it had and fall to the ground.

"Kill it!" Mike said.

I swung my Keyblade at the undead being. To my disgust and horror, I took its head off. It rolled away as its body fell lifeless on the floor. However, the walker's head rolled towards Dylan, who yelled in disgust before kicking it away by the back of its head.

It flew towards Bonnie. She gasped and kicked it away as well, sending it towards Emily. She grabbed a bag that she took from Windrun and used it to hit the head away from her.

"Can someone kill this thing for real instead of having Walker Head Volleyball?" I asked

Mike grabbed a glass shard before stabbing the walker's head, putting it down for good.

I sighed. "That was... not fun."

"Definitely not..." Dylan agreed, stepping over the headless body of the walker.

I then peered into the room. My eyes lit up seeing two HUGE jugs of water. "Oh, hello." I smirked.

"Jackpot." Mike said when he looked.

"Rebecca could use this." Dylan said.

Mike picked up one of the jugs of water. I tried to pick up the other one, but I could barely lift the thing. Mike just took the other jug while hoisting the other one over his shoulder. "I got it." I was kind of surprised that he could carry both of those things.

"Oh, hey Clem." I heard Emily say. I then saw the girl approaching us.

"Is everything okay here?" She asked.

"Yeah, we're fine. Just a little weird incident with Anne's Keyblade and a surprise walker attack." Dylan shrugged.

"What kind of incident?"

I showed her the new look my Keyblade had. She was surprised by how it looked now. "A keychain I found flew onto it and changed it." I explained.

"Now we're wondering if it can do that with any keychain." Dylan said.

"So, uh, let us know if you find any?" I suggested

"Uh... okay."

Bonnie and Emily then made a shushing motion, and then pointed. We noticed a raccoon aniffing around, so we ducked down.

"Where did that come from?" I asked.

"I don't know, it just snuck in like it owned the place." Bonnie said.

"Think we can eat it?" Dylan asked.

Clem rose an eyebrow. "We can eat raccoon?"

Emily looked at her. "When you're hungry enough, you'll eat just about anything."

Mike peered over the edge of a stand to take a look. "I'd eat the shoot out of that raccoon." He didn't say shoot.

"Ew." I said.

Mike noticed our looks. "Uh, what I meant was that I would really like to eat that raccoon. I am starving."

Bonnie and Clem exchanged a smirk.

"Then we'd better move quick." Dylan said.

The raccoon suddenly scurried away. "Shoot, it saw us!" Bonnie said.

"Grab it!"

Mike, Bonnie, and Dylan tried to block any exits for it, but it managed to scurry past Bonnie.

Emily tried to grab it, but she missed.

"Here's Annie!" I tried lunging at it... only to land flat on my face. "OW!"

The raccoon chittered as it ran by me, then past Clementine. I pushed myself back to my feet, holding my nose as the raccoon hissed at us while it stood by the tombstones.

Mike raised a gun, but Bonnie shook her head. "No. A raccoon's not worth it."

Mike lowered the gun. "Yeah... I guess not."

It was then two baby raccoons poked their heads out from behind a tombstone before joining the larger one. Oh... it's a mother…

"Now I'm hungrier than I was before." Mike said when we saw them.

"How did I get to a place where I'm sad that I'm not eating raccoon?" Mike remarked to himself.

"I'm sort of glad it got away." Clementine said. "It had a family."

I nodded. "Good to know some life hasn't been rendered an endangered species by the apocalypse."

Dylan then walked over to us, showing a type of gray coat that looked to be from the Civil War. "Hey, I found this. Maybe Rebecca could use it?"

"That's great, but isn't gray the color of... ya know?" Mike questioned.

"What?" I asked.

"Which side of the Civil War wore grey?" Emily tested me.

Dylan blinked with realization. "Oh... it's a Confederate coat..."

Now I saw the problem. "Whoops... "

"Guess it's better than nothing." Mike said.

Suddenly, a couple dark clouds appeared up ahead before those Shadow Heartless appeared.

I groaned. "Oh, are you kidding me?"

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.**


	26. Chapter 26

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

ANNE'S POV

The Shadows began to come to the museum building. Emily held up her gun, but I put it down. "No. Guns don't work on these things."

"Do you have a better idea?" she asked me.

I looked at my Keyblade before back at them. "I think so." I then ran towards them.

"Anne!" Dylan called after me, but I was already raising my Keyblade.

I then brought it down on a Shadow, who didn't move out of the way in time and got hit by it. It vanished in a cloud of darkness. I then swung and hit another. It was knocked down to the ground by it, but it suddenly sunk into a pool of darkness before sliding behind me. Several others followed their buddy. Something told me I was going to hate that. Before I could react, one popped up and attacked me, getting me in the back. I let out a cry of pain as I stumbled forward.

Another managed to attack me as well while I was caught off guard. That gave them the opportunity to begin swarming over me, which they did. I struggled to push them off, swinging my Keyblade wildly.

"Get off her!" I heard Dylan yell as he chucked a rock at one of them. It bounced off its head, but several did turn their attention towards him. He tensed as he took a step back. "Yeah, that's right! Over here!"

I used the distraction and swung my Keyblade, knocking one off me, but several were already making their way towards my friend. Eyes widening, he dove to the side as one tried to attack him.

I managed to get up before charging at the one that lunged at Dylan, destroying it with a slash of my Keyblade before turning to everyone at the museum. "Go now!"

"But what about you?!" Dylan asked.

"I'll be fine! Just get the supplies we found and get outta here! I'll catch up!" I urged them to go.

Clem ran out and grabbed Dylan's arm. "Come on!"

Dylan looked at me one more time before he took off with Clementine, Mike, Emily, and Bonnie. I turned back to the Shadows. "Okay, who's next...?" I frowned. One leapt up at me, but I managed to smack it away with my weapon. I then skewered it, sending it back to the darkness it came from. During my distraction, four more attacked, forcing me to the ground. They then quickly grabbed a hold of my legs, the realization of them trying to pin me so they could do what they did to Troy coming into my mind as they did. I tried to kick free, but these things had powerful grips. With a growl and a swear word escaping my mouth, I resorted to jabbing them with my Keyblade.

I was able to knock one off that way before I was able to kick the other off one leg. While the others tried to reach for my heart, I took my Bowie knife and stabbed the closer one in the eye. It didn't kill it, but the living shadow did release me, allowing me to impale my strange sword into the head of the last one. Within a few seconds I was back on my feet, keeping my grip on the one thing I knew could exterminate the Heartless for good.

However, that's when I saw not all of them were fighting me. Some were melting back into the shadows, moving along the ground in the direction my friends went. A string of profanity went through my mind before I turned my attention back to the ones trying to take me down. The one that still had my knife in its eye came towards me, but a couple of jabs and a slash took care of it. I then focused my attention on the last one, which was moving between the tombstones. For some reason, I imagined Chase joking about it being disrespectful to the dead, but then no one had respect for the dead anymore, not since they refused to stay that way. Running towards it, the Shadow took physical form again as I slashed at it. While it was on its back, I buried my Keyblade into its chest, killing it for good.

With that taken care of, I ran towards the courtyard, or pavilion, the place where everyone else was gathered, praying in silence that I was not too late. As I passed the sign, I could see the others were there, surrounded by Shadows, and another kind of Heartless that I hadn't seen before. This one looked like it was in a blue uniform, with a metal helmet for a head, similar to the ones knights used, except the visor was down, revealing the yellow eyes within. I also noticed a heart insignia on it. I don't know how, but the name came to me. This was a Soldier.

Kenny was hitting one of the Soldiers with a crowbar, swearing and saying words that I probably would be saying in his situation. Sarah was huddling behind a wall, hands over her head like she was trying to make herself invisible. The others were trying to shoot at the things, even though I could see Clair was trying to tell them that wasn't going to work. Rebecca was still holding her stomach, cries of pain ripping from her mouth. I cringed at the sound, realizing she needed shelter now.

One was leaping in the air, so I moved fast. Smacking it to the side, I buried my blade into it before looking at the others. There was a gunshot behind me, so I turned to see Christa, who I guess elected to go on patrol with Luke, shooting at the woods. THat's when I saw them. Walkers coming out of the trees, moaning and rasping as they came towards their next meal. I swore at the sight of them. AS if we didn't have enough problems.

"You have GOT to be kidding me!" Christa frowned at the sight. Bonnie and Emily were tending to Rebecca as the woman held her stomach.

"Great, now we got the walkers AND the creepy Heartless things after us!" Chase yelled.

"Is the shelter open?" Emily asked Clem.

"I don't know! Jane was working on trying to get it open!" Clementine said.

The braided teen ran over to her horse, slapping it on the rear with a "Yah!" Windrun then galloped off, heading towards the woods, away from the incoming blood-thirsty dead people. Once she had seen him go a certain distance, Clair ran to Sarah. "Sarah! We have to go!" She told her. When Sarah refused to budge, Clair did something I did not expect. She grabbed Sarah and positioned her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

Sarah was protesting and pounding on my back, but I refused to let go. Now was not the time to be sitting around moping. I just began to move away with her. I saw Kenny moving towards the walkers with his crowbar, and then smack it in the skull with his weapon. But he couldn't fight them alone.

Clem realized this too. "Mike, help Kenny!"

"On it!" he nodded as he grabbed a weapon of his own and ran to Kenny's side. He attacked a walker that was coming up beside Kenny.

I then left with Sarah still protesting. "Sarah!" I snapped. "Now's not the time for this!"

Anne had attacked a Heartless that was nearby. I prayed that they would make it. As I ran with Sarah I saw more walkers coming from the woods. Why won't they just leave us alone?

Chase managed to attack one, stabbing it in the temple. His brother then joined him. "Don't be careless, Chase. We have to keep moving." After retrieving his knife from the corpse, the two brothers followed Sarah and I to the observation deck. Please let there be shelter up there.

I heard a grunt behind us and dared to glance over my shoulder. Thankfully, it was just Anne, who had taken care of another Heartless and was catching up to us. The others were right behind her.

"Where's Luke?!" Anne called.

"He was supposed to be keeping watch!" Christa told her as we ran through the sort of maze.

Chase shook his head. "A blind man would've done a better job at keeping lookout."

I could hear another grunt and saw that Kenny and Mike had caught up to us, taking care of a stray walker. "Keep goin'!"

As we made it out of the maze, I saw a sort of building in the distance with a set of stairs leading up to what hopefully was a shelter. I began to pick up the pace, even with Sarah slowing me down. I started heading up the stairs as soon as I reached them with Chase, Dylan, Clementine, and Anne behind me.

"We'll get the shop open!" Clementine called to the others that were not too far behind. She ended up passing me as we ascended the stairs. However, as she reached the gift shop, she came to a halt. I could hear small talk as I got closer.

"... that was about as human as I felt in a long time..." Luke's voice remarked from inside the gift shop. He was here the whole time? Oh, I felt like throwing him to the walkers. I reached the top of the stairs and peered inside with Clem, seeing Luke sitting next to Jane. "I almost forgot what- Clementine?! Clair?!" Luke was startled to see us, as was Jane.

"What in heaven's name do you think you're doing?!" I asked them while letting Sarah down.

Luke awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck as Jane adjusted her boots. "Uh... w-well, you see, Clair, it's, uh-"

Anne made it up, but stopped when she saw the two of them. "What the heck is going on?!" she asked with a surprised look. She didn't say heck.

The others finally got up, slamming the gate behind them. "They're coming!"

"Who's coming?" Luke asked with confusion.

"Walkers and Heartless! Ones that YOU were supposed to help keep an eye out for!" Christa snapped at him.

That brought him back to reality. "Oh... Oh crap..."

"AND Rebecca's having the baby!" Chase added as he glanced over his shoulder quickly to check outside.

"Wait, now?!"

Rebecca let out a loud cry of pain in response.

The walkers, moaning and snarling, were pushing against the gate, causing it to creak. "That's not gonna hold!" Tess said.

"Keep them back!" Kenny ordered as he, Emily, and Bonnie helped Rebecca onto the floor.

I looked at Sarah. "Stay here. Do whatever Kenny tells you to do, but do not leave this gift shop." I then ran out of the gift shop to help my group. Several of the group were holding the gate while trying to avoid being bitten. Luke grabbed a gun, joining us outside as he began to shoot the walkers. However, even I could see that the gate was going to give at any second. And those who were holding it up were running a high risk of getting bitten.

"We need something to barricade the gate with!" Nick shouted.

"Like what?!" Dylan asked as he shot another walker with a gun he had.

I saw Chase looking at a cannon that was on the deck. "Maybe this!"

"It should do the trick!" I said as I ran over to help him, and Jane joined us as well.

She looked at us. "On three."

"Okay."

"Three."

Together, we turned the heavy cannon towards the gate and began to push it.

"How much does this thing weigh?!" Chase grunted.

Gritting my teeth, I tried to get it moving faster. "Less talk, more oomph!"

Chase started pushing it as hard as he could with us as the cannon began rolling towards the gate. He looked at the others. "Wide load coming through."

We then heard a crack, causing me to pause for a moment. "What was that?"

Anne gasped as she looked down. "Everyone! Get back!" I followed her gaze and to my shock, the deck was starting to break below us as a support cable came loose!

"Oh shoot!" Bonnie gasped as she ran towards the shop. Only she didn't say shoot.

Everyone managed to get back as the deck came down. Except one. Christa ended up tripping when a board splintered, and when the deck collapsed, it took her with it. "CHRISTA!" Clementine and I gasped as we peered over the edge. It wasn't good. I gasped upon seeing that the canon had fallen on her legs, and from the looks of things crushed the lower half of her body. She screamed in pain, trying to push it off while I held a hand to my mouth.

The eleven-year old turned my way. "Clair, you have to save her!" Clem told me.

I nodded, running to the part of the deck that was intact and started to make my way down the sloping part. Once I was down, I ran over to Christa. "Hang on, I'll get you out!" I told her as I started trying to move the cannon. Christa screamed in pain, cussing and swearing the whole time.

I could see the walkers closing in, but I still tried to roll the canon off her. However, I saw the problem. There was too much debris in the way. I looked at the person I was trying to help, and saw that she saw that too. Gritting her teeth, she got out, "G-Get back up there..."

I could hear the snarls getting louder, but I shook my head. "No way. Not leaving you." Was my response as I quickly got some of the smaller debris out of the way. I tried once more to push, but Christa yelled in pain again.

"Hurry!" Clem called down to me.

The woman looked up at the child, and I saw sorrow and regret in her eyes. What was she thinking? "Tell Clem... I'm sorry." Christa told me.

"No! No, don't talk like that!" I told her as I struggled to push it off, but it refused to budge.

"It's okay. I-I'll see Omid soon... and o-our little girl..." she winced in pain as she picked up a gun that landed next to her, glaring at the walkers.

I immediately became afraid of what she was going to do. I tried to seize the gun, but I was too late. "Christa!" The woman put the barrel against her head, and to my horror pulled the trigger. A bullet entered her brain and her body collapsed. "No!" I yelled with shock, staring at her lifeless body. The walkers snarled as they stumbled towards her.

A bullet hit one in the head and I saw it came from Chase. "Don't just stand there!" He called down to me. "Get back up here!"

I snapped out of it, running up the remains of the deck. It wasn't easy to make it back up, but the adrenaline helped. We were getting pretty crowded on the deck, but my eyes went to the edge. Clementine stared over the edge as tears rolled down her face. "Clem, I-I'm so sorry..." I told her sadly.

"Y... You did the best you could..." Clem choked out, looking up at me sadly with her golden eyes.

I hadn't known Christa that long, but still, her loss shook me. I looked down to see several corpses tearing into Christa's lifeless body. At least she won't become one of them, and she's not in pain. Still... the sight of them desecrating her body like that... I clenched my fists and felt my blood boil. More than anything, I wanted to send those monsters back to whatever hell they crawled out of.

"They're getting up!" Sarah said. I turned to see that the walkers were starting to climb up the portion of the deck that had collapsed. I even saw a few Heartless trying to make their way up.

Tess swore. "Give us a break!"

"How are we gonna stop them?" Emily asked.

I looked at the remaining cord. "Collapse the deck. All the way."

"She's right... we gotta drop the deck!" Luke agreed.

"Drop the- are you crazy?!" Mike exclaimed with shock.

Anne glared at him. "You got a better idea?"

I ran over to the cord, and noticed where it was screwed in. Pulling out my tomahawk, I worked on prying it loose. Man, that thing was screwed in tight. I gritted my teeth as I pushed harder, only to break my tomahawk in two. My eyes widened as I held the remains of my tomahawk. "Uh oh!" We needed something else!

"Whaddya mean by 'Uh oh'?!" Anne called to me.

I held up the broken handle of my tomahawk. "That's what I mean."

Clem and Sarah ran over to me. I was busy trying to get the blade out of the thing, so Sarah tried to help me with that. Once we pried it free, Clem reached up to try and get it to go. However, as she raised her weapon, a Heartless tackled her. Clem screamed as it did.

"CLEM!" Before Sarah and I could move to help her, we were tackled as well. Grabbing hold of the Heartless that surprised me, I threw it off and kicked the one that was attacking Sarah. As I turned to help Clem, Anne beat me to it.

"Get off her!" she snapped, swinging her Keyblade at the Heartless on Clem. That effort succeeded in the Heartless getting a free flying lesson. Helping Clem to her feet, Anne then jammed her Keyblade into the support. Seeing what she was planning, the three of us joined her in using her weapon as a lever to pry the thing out. While we did so, I though I saw a faint glow around Clem and Sarah's hands. It must've been a trick of my eyes.

The rest of the group held off the walkers and Heartless by shooting at them. It was more effective on the walkers than it was on the Heartless. Why don't bullets affect those things? What were they made of? Finally, I saw the plate that attached to the support cable begin to come off as the cable creaked. "Timber!" Anne cried out.

"Get back!" I warned everyone as the rest of the deck began to break apart.

Dylan cussed loudly as we leapt back just as the rest of the deck gave out, breaking apart and crushing several walkers below. I think a few Heartless were caught in it as well. I breathed a sigh of relief, before I noticed it was quiet, apart from some of the growls of surviving walkers below. Rebecca! I heard Bonnie gasp. "Oh... Oh no..." she whispered, sounding to be on the verge of tears.

We checked in to see Kenny holding a baby. A still baby. "Is it...?" I started to ask, only for the baby to cough and start crying. Kenny's undamaged eye widened with joy as Rebecca began to cry with relief.

"It's alive!" Chase gasped, smiling.

I sighed. "Thank heaven." I said as I sank to my knees. It had been a long day, and I was starting to feel exhausted.

"Oh man..." Anne whispered as she leaned against the wall.

* * *

Some time later, we were all resting. Clementine, though happy the baby survived, looked back over the edge where what was left of Christa's body was now buried sadly. It was like she wanted to be alone right now. I had seen what was left, and it wasn't enough to bury her remains. I had tried to go down once, but Kenny refused, not while any walkers were still about. I know that he's right, that it's too dangerous, but I can still feel the guilt and shame of failing my friend in my heart. Why couldn't I save her? Was this some cruel joke? To reunite her with a friend only for her to lose said friend? "Clem... I... she told me to tell you that... she was sorry." I managed to say.

She looked at me when I told her that. "... thank you..." she told me sincerely, wiping away her tears. "Thank you for trying..."

"You have every right to be angry at me." I told her.

"You tried, through."

I looked across the way, noticing the spire of a church over the trees. "What did she mean? If you don't mind my asking." I looked at Clem to see she had a sad look. "If you'd rather not talk about it, you don't have to answer."

"No... it's okay..." Clementine muttered. "Omid... he was her boyfriend. They took care of me for a while after my friend, Lee, died... but then Omid was killed. By my gun."

I looked at her. "I'm sorry, Clem."

"... let's just get inside..." she whispered sadly as she turned and headed back into the gift shop with me following her. By now, the baby had been wrapped in a blanket and was placed in Rebecca's arms. The woman was now leaning against the wall whispering comforting words to her newborn. Anne was sitting against the wall a few feet away from where she was.

I sat next to them. "Congratulations, Rebecca."

She gave a tired smile. "Thank you..." she told me before looking down at the baby. "Who's the perfect little man? Who's the most perfect man in the whole world?" she cooed.

Clem joined us. "He looks like Alvin."

"You think so?" Rebecca asked.

"Definitely." Clem nodded.

"... thank you." Rebecca whispered with a grateful spirit. The baby yawned, cooing a bit. "Do you want to hold him?" She asked Clem.

The girl looked up at that. "Can I?"

"Of course, you're family." Rebecca nodded as she gently handed the baby to Clementine.

Clem smiled softly as she held him. The sight was rather adorable.

The baby then began to cry, but Clem slowly rocked him. "Shh... it's okay... there you go..."

I smiled at the sight, upon seeing him calm down at her voice.

"You're a natural." Rebecca told her.

Anne nodded. "Just like a big sister."

Clem smiled. "Thanks..."

Anne then remembered something. "Oh. The jacket." She pulled out a gray colored jacket and showed it to Rebecca.

"Sorry, y'know, about the color." Mike spoke up from where he was laying.

"You really think I care about that?" Rebecca retorted.

I shrugged. "It's better than freezing."

Rebecca put on the jacket, buttoning it up.

I looked at everyone. "We should make a plan."

"The girl's right." Kenny agreed.

"I saw a building in the distance. There might be a town there." Clementine spoke up as she held the baby.

"Good. Then let's get her up and ready to go." Kenny said. However, his declaration earned a few looks from the group.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, we can't push Rebecca. She just gave birth." Luke frowned.

Nick added, "She needs time to rest, too."

"We don't have time." Kenny said.

I sensed incoming hostility. "Uh... maybe we should scout it out first. I don't want to head there only to find myself caught in a walker nest. If it's safe, then we can move everyone there."

"Sure... just... let's rest, first..." Luke said.

I could hear a whinny from below and I looked outside, seeing that Windrun had somehow made it out safe. I smiled. "Good boy. Good horse." Looking at Kenny, I said, "I can take Windrun and scout out the town first thing in the morning. If it's safe, I should be back before sunset."

Kenny seemed reluctant to stay, but sighed. "... fine. Better rest up, then..."

I headed back to where I was sitting. Dylan sat down next to Anne with a tired sigh. "What a day..."

"I know, right?" Anne asked as she placed her Keyblade across her lap while setting her guitar down next to her.

I tried to get myself comfortable, but it was difficult to do as the floor was hard and the air was getting colder. I noticed a few of the others seemed to have the same problems. Sighing, I rolled over on my side, only to find Chase lying on his side looking at me. "Hi," I said, while noticing Anne idly plucking the strings on her guitar.

Dylan then realized something. "Someone should keep watch just in case."

"I've got it." Kenny volunteered as he got up.

"When's the last time you've slept?" I heard Rebecca ask.

"Oh, about two years ago."

"I'll take over in a few hours." Emily offered.

Kenny gave a curt nod before he began to keep watch.

Now I heard Anne begin to play a faint tune on her guitar. I tried to listen to it, but my eyes were starting to droop, though. Maybe... just rest for a moment... Slowly, I let my eyes drift shut.

* * *

 **Once again, thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace for helping write this chapter out. And in case you were wondering why it was Christa who died here instead of Sarah, it's because Clair is here, and has ended up altering things because of her presence. Also, since we don't know what's happened to Christa after episode 1 of Season 2 of TellTale's The Walking Dead, I think it's safe to assume what really happened was she died. So, I chose to correct that here. Sorry if anyone was hoping she would stay alive.**

 **For the next chapter, yes, I am going to use something that apparently wasn't used in TellTale's game: The town that was seen in the distance. Is it safe? Is it overrun by walkers? Or is it much worse? We'll see next. time.**


	27. Chapter 27

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

* * *

Lost and Alone

CLAIR'S POV

Some time later, I felt someone nudging me. "Hey, Clair." I shifted, cracking open one of my eyes to see it was Emily. "Time to get up." Yawning, I sat up rubbing my eyes. I felt so stiff and sore, and my body was telling me what I needed to do was go back to sleep. I noticed that Chase was still next to me fast asleep. Out of the corner of my eyes as I continued to wake myself up, I saw that Anne and Dylan were asleep as well, but Anne's head was resting on Dylan's shoulder. Aw, how cute. Neither of them noticed, however.

I decided it was for the best as I quietly got to my feet, so as to not disturb them from their slumber. Emily then showed me down some stairs that apparently had been beside us the whole time. Why the walkers never found them is a mystery I guess will never be solved. I opened the door at the bottom to see Windrun grazing on some grass as he waited for me. However, as I stepped outside, I noticed it was starting to snow. "Oh, that's just great." I groaned.

Both Windrun and Emily noticed it as well. "Better hurry." My friend told me as I mounted my horse using some of the rubble as a step ladder. With a nod, I clicked my tongue and Windrun began to move. I then noticed some footsteps behind me, making me pause long enough to look behind me. To my surprise I saw Sarah was coming out as well.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her as she looked at me.

"I... I want to come help." Sarah said shyly, looking down at her feet.

I looked at her. I was touched by her generous offer, but I was worried about any emergencies that might come up. Did she know how to fight? "There might be walkers." I warned her.

Sarah looked back up at me. "I-I know that... but... you saved me when I was so scared... I don't want to be useless."

I was a bit surprised by her statement. "Sarah, you're not useless." I told her. She looked at me with an expression that... I think it said she didn't believe that. My face fell upon seeing that and hesitated for a moment, then held my hand out to Sarah to help her onto Windrun. "Come on, Sarah."

She started forward, but Emily grabbed her. "Careful. You don't want to spook a horse. Approach him. Slowly. Don't get on so suddenly." She then escorted Sarah over, taking care to not spook my horse. When she got there, Emily knelt down to give Sarah a boost, who then sat behind me on Windrun.

Emily then sighed. "Clair... about earlier with my father... I'm sorry."

I looked at her at that. "I don't blame you. You did what anyone would've done for family."

"You forgive me, then?" She asked.

I nodded. "I don't hold grudges."

Emily gave a faint smile. "So it'll be just you two heading out, then?" she asked me.

"You're welcome to come with us." I told Emily.

She shook her head. "I'd better stay."

I rose an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

She gave a nod in reply. "Don't want Kenny to think I've run off. You know how unhinged the guy is."

"He's just worried." I said.

Emily sighed. "I know, but... a lot has happened these past couple of days."

"Well, that's why we're checking out that town. To see if it'll offer a respite." With that, I clicked my tongue and Windrun started on his way. Sarah waved to Emily as we left before holding onto me as we left what was left of the observation deck.

Some time later, maybe a couple of hours given how the sun had risen into the sky, the trees were thinning out. We must be close to the town.

"Do you see anything?" Sarah asked me.

"Well, there's less trees. I think we're just about there." I told her, keeping an eye out for any buildings. Whoever is in heaven, please let this place be walker-free. I've had enough of the walking dead to last me a lifetime. I then heard Windrun's hooves click against concrete. I then heard Windrun's hooves click against concrete. "We've arrived, but keep an eye out, Sarah. No telling what's lurking here."

As Windrun continued forward, I began to look over some of the buildings. Some houses with busted windows, bad sign. Some outlet stores, but they looked like they had been raided and emptied already. Hmmm… where could we check for supplies? Windrun then stopped in front of one. "Maybe there's something in there?" I asked Sarah.

"The grocery store. It might not have anything." She told me.

I then remembered waking up in a store, finding out the world had gone nuts. Dismounting with a sigh, I looked at her. "Right now it's our best option. With any luck, maybe someone missed something." After helping her down, we began to move towards the entrance. However, I stopped at the door. "Do you have a weapon, perchance?" When she shook her head, I handed her my knife. "Here. Use this." I told her. "Aim for the head if a walker attacks you."

Sarah nodded as she took it, gripping it by the handle. We then entered the store, with me taking the lead. If I was attacked, then I'd pay for getting her father killed. It was dark inside, save for the sunlight that was streaming in through the windows. I saw a few rows of shelves up ahead of us with several papers and wrappers scattered on the floor. "Stay close." I told her, still remembering the earliest memories I had.

Sarah nodded as she looked around. "O-Okay..."

I began to walk down an aisle with Sarah sticking close to me. The shelves were empty, except for boxes that had been torn open. I checked to see if there was any kind of food left over, but unfortunately, there wasn't. I snapped my fingers. Drat. So we checked the next row. Nothing there, either...

"Oh!" Sarah said, causing me to jump out of fear that she spotted something bad. "Peaches!" She pointed at a jar on a shelf with peaches in it.

I sighed as I calmed down. "Good find."

Smiling, Sarah picked up the jar. "I hope the others like them."

"We'll see." I said as we kept looking.

Sarah put the jar in a bag that we had as we searched.

I eventually found a box of Swiss rolls that still had a few in it. "The others might like these." I said as I put them away. "Keep an eye out for other stuff. Clothes, ammunition, baby formula."

Sarah nodded. "Okay. It's getting really cold... the baby will need the formula and warm clothes."

We headed down another row to see what we could find. I just prayed that people left the clothes alone. My prayers were answered, as I saw there were a few pieces of clothes left on a couple racks. "Thank heaven." We took the ones we thought would fit for the group. "Did you see anything for the baby?" I asked Sarah.

"No, I don't think so..."

I snapped my fingers. We tried looking some more, but all we found was trash, some dried blood, and a couple of thankfully dead corpses. Sarah even stabbed them to be sure. She sighed with relief when they didn't move. "I don't think there's much left in here..." I said.

Sarah nodded in agreement. We decided to leave the store, and found Windrun waiting for us. He stood there while we loaded the supplies we found on him. Now where to look next?

"What if we can't stay in the town for winter?" Sarah asked me.

I sighed. "I'm afraid we'll have to keep moving, then."

She looked down. "I don't like moving all the time. We've been doing that a lot, lately..."

"I know." I told her. "But right now it's the only way we can stay safe. Besides, there have to be others out there. People who have managed to start rebuilding society. I can't see anyone wanting things to stay like this forever."

Sarah looked down. "Okay…"

"But let's not give up on this place yet." I said. "Let's check out a few more buildings."

Sarah gave a nod as we led Windrun away from the store.

"What about there?"

"The post office? I don't think there's anything we can use in there."

"What about that?"

"School? Probably not. It's boarded up from the outside."

"Good point. How about there?"

"No. I don't think there's any fast food left."

Sighing, I admitted, "Maybe we won't be able to stay here after all." It was just too barren here, with next-to-nothing to sustain us. "Sarah, do you see anything else?"

"There's a library over there." She pointed to a building across the street. Looking over it, I saw that it looked about as run down as everything else in this town, with broken windows and faded letters. One of the r's in library was missing from the side of the building.

I turned to her. "Are you sure? There might be nothing in there."

"I've got a good feeling about it." She said. "It couldn't hurt to check, right?"

"... I suppose not." I replied as we led Windrun over to the library. However, as we got there, we had to stop because there were shelves piled up against the doorway. I groaned at this. "Great... Sarah, the door's blocked. We have to find another way in."

"Oh." She said.

"What?"

"A raccoon. Over there." She pointed down the side of the building. I looked, but didn't see anything. "I don't see anything..."

"It was right there!" She took a step forward. "I know I wasn't seeing things!" She then took off.

"Sarah!" I called after her as I followed ran around the corner with me following close behind. "Sarah! Wait!" I stopped a few inches behind Sarah, as we found a hole in the side of the library. It was narrow, but I think we both could fit in it.

"I think it went through there..." Sarah said.

"I'll go first." I offered as I took a step forward, then made my way through the hole. Sure enough, it was tight, but I was able to squeeze through. Sarah followed me and came through the hole as well. The library was a mess. Books had been scattered all across the floor, and some of the shelves were now leaning over. I picked up one that had pages torn out and lying around. A thick layer of dust was on the cover, so I brushed it off to try and ready it, but the words didn't make sense.

"What is it?" Sarah asked curiously as she walked over to me.

"A book. But I can't read it."

She looked at the cover. "The Jungle Book."

I rose an eyebrow. It said that?

She looked at me. "Can't you read it?"

I shook my head. "No."

Her eyes then widened. "It's just like back at the cabin. When we were reading that book. You couldn't make out the words."

I remembered that. But why? Why couldn't I read what I could speak? Probably wasn't important. "Let's look around. See if any vending machines still have food in them."

Sarah was silent for a moment, but nodded. "Um... okay."

Putting the book down, we headed into the library. There had to be something here. Why all the toppled shelves and scattered books otherwise? I noticed Sarah scoop up a couple intact books before we headed to a toppled shelf. I cautiously checked underneath it. I saw what looked like empty bullet shells, but no corpse. As we made our way down, we stopped, because there was a camp of some sort. A sleeping bag, some backpacks and boxes, and a gun with bullet shells around it.

"Whoa..." Sarah whispered. "Someone was here."

"Be on the lookout. Who knows if they're still alive and out there." I advised.

She nodded as we began to look around. I looked through the backpacks, but they were full of empty cans. Well, not all of them were empty. There were some that hadn't been opened yet. This would help the others get through. Rebecca was probably very hungry after giving birth. Once the cans from the backpacks were taken, Sarah and I took a look in the boxes. Once again, most of the cans were empty, but there were some that hadn't been opened. We loaded them into the bag we had as I grabbed a couple of backpacks. I noticed Sarah had put the books she had picked up in the bag, too. Before she could say anything, her eyes widened. "Look out!" She cried out as something grabbed me from behind.

I gasped and struggled to break free of whatever was grabbing me. I heard rasping snarling. A walker! I struggled to push it off and keep it from biting or scratching me as it snarled. I slammed it into a shelf that was next to me, but the thing had a firm grip. It gnashed its teeth together as it tried to bite me. "Get off!" I strained as I tried to grab a weapon.

Sarah suddenly grabbed a wooden plank and whacked the walker in its rotting face. That managed to loosen its grip for a bit, and allow me to break free. I then grabbed and arrow from my quiver and buried the tip into the eye of the monster, driving it towards its brain. The walker stopped rasping as it went limp and collapsed. I let out a sigh of relief as I looked as Sarah. "Thank you. You saved my life."

She smiled. "Um... y-you're welcome!" she said, as though shocked that she had managed to do that. I then heard something else move. I tensed, readying my bow and arrow just in case, while Sarah got out the knife I gave her. We moved towards it, preparing for trouble. We moved around the shelves, and found... a baby crawling across the floor? "What's a baby doing here?" Sarah asked.

I shrugged as I moved over to it, when I noticed the stench of death coming from it. The eyes then confirmed it. The baby was a walker! I took a step back in horror. "Sarah... don't approach it..." I whispered.

Sarah noticed its eyes and held a hand to her mouth in horror. "O-Oh no... no..."

It started to crawl over to us. The sight of it... was just heartbreaking. It was only a baby... it didn't get to live so long... it didn't deserve to suffer like this... I felt a tear roll down my cheek at the sight as Sarah wiped away some of her own tears. "We should put it out of its misery." I said with a heavy heart.

"Y-Yeah..." Sarah sniffled.

The walkerfied-baby rasped at us as it tried to grab us, couldn't. I felt my hands quiver slightly as I pulled out an arrow. "I'm... so sorry this happened to you... you didn't deserve this..." I said, my voice shaking a bit. I couldn't keep my hands steady, and the tears kept filling my eyes. Finally, I lowered the arrow. My hands just wouldn't cooperate. The walker eventually collapsed, too weak to crawl towards us. Must've only lived hours before it turned. The tears flowed down my cheeks. I couldn't fire an arrow, but neither could I leave it like this. So I did the only other thing I could. I walked over to it, and crushed its skull with my foot.

The walker's rasps ceased immediately.

That's when I fell to my knees, burying my face into my hands while the tears flowed from my eyes. Why? What kind of world would allow a baby to become one of those monsters? It didn't even get a chance at life... Why? WHY?! Eventually, I shakily looked back up. Sarah's eyes were red and puffy as she wiped away her tears. "We... we should bury it..." I choked out.

She nodded in agreement. I found a cloth nearby and wrapped the body in it, carefully. Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes again as we made our way out of the library. It wasn't easy to move through the hole carrying a baby's body, but we managed.

"That might be good." Sarah pointed to a circular island in the road. "I remember a library I used to go to had something similar, all decorated with flowers."

I nodded as we moved towards it, with Windrun taking an interest in what we were doing. Thankfully there was only a thin layer of snow, so we were able to brush it off. There was a small patch of dirt that looked like a good spot to lay the body to rest. We used a small shovel we found to dig a hole for the burial. I then placed the baby into the hole. My face fell at the sight as we began to refill the hole. I think I would sooner face a herd of walkers again, before ever having to do something like this again.

Once the baby had been buried, Sarah and I exchanged a sad look. We both had enough of this town. "Let's... let's get back to the others." I said. She nodded in agreement as she headed back to Windrun. I stared at the grave for a moment before returning to him as well. I gave Sarah a boost, and then just walked silently beside the two of them. All we could hear was the sound of the wind and Windrun's hooves clicking on the cement. I'd gladly take Kenny's anger if it meant I could remove this day from my life's history.

* * *

ANNE'S POV

I yawned as I slowly began to wake up, squinting. I felt my head resting on something, but didn't see what it was yet. I turned to see it was Dylan I was resting on. Oh... wait. Dylan?!

My eyes snapped open and I quickly sat up, feeling my cheeks heat up a bit. He stirred, but didn't wake up. Thank goodness. I silently let out a sigh of relief as I quietly got up, then noticed Chase's little smirk he had as he saw us. "Not a word." I warned, but then noticed that a couple people were missing. "Hey, where's Clair and Sarah?"

"They went to town." Emily said.

"What town?" I asked.

Emily pointed over the treeline, where I could see some buildings. "... oh. When do you think they'll be back?"

"Hard to say..." Luke sighed.

"What about Jane?" I asked when I saw she wasn't there.

Clem sighed. "She left."

I rose an eyebrow. "She left?" I repeated.

Clementine nodded. "While everyone was sleeping."

I wasn't expecting that, but now that I thought about it, she did look like she didn't want to be around any of us. Seeing how Luke looked, I decided to change the subject. "How's the baby?"

Rebecca looked down at the infant in her arms, smiling faintly. "He's doing fine..."

I sighed. Man, a lot happened yesterday... I still felt exhausted. And the people we lost... Poor Christa... Should we try to bury her remains? We shouldn't just leave her there... I headed over to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Kenny asked me.

I turned to the older man. "We should bury Christa..."

Clem looked up at that. She nodded in agreement. "She shouldn't be left there."

Kenny looked at her when she said that. "She deserves better." He agreed. He then turned to those who were awake. "Alright, y'all, we're gonna need to give Christa a proper burial. Do any of ya have something we can dig with?"

Chase shook his head. "No."

Kenny swore, shaking his head.

"We'll make due." I said as I headed down the stairs. Once at the bottom, I opened the door. I looked around to make sure that there wasn't any sign of danger before stepping out. There wasn't. I then headed to the remains of the deck, stepping over the bodies of walkers to get to the cannon. I grimaced slightly seeing Christa's remains.

It was like someone had done a terrible job at dissection. I tried to not focus on the gore, but it was hard to not look at the bones that now showing. I knelt down and started pushing some rubble aside. The cannon was still laying on the lower half on Christa's body. And yet the walkers had gotten to the lower half that hadn't been crushed by the canon. That was so disgusting. My stomach lurched a bit, but I shook it off.

Pushing against the canon, I tried to roll it off. However, it remained firmly in place. "Come on... move!" I then felt it get lighter, like someone was helping me. I turned to see Clem was there. "Oh. Hey, Clem." I greeted.

"Looks like you needed a hand." she remarked.

I gave a nod before we resumed pushing. With the two of us pushing, we were finally able to get that cannon to roll off Christa's remains. When Clem gazed upon the body, her face fell. I looked at her with sympathy. "Clem, I'm sorry about what happened to her." She looked like she was trying to stay strong, but having a hard time of it.

"There's nothing wrong with crying, Clem. She meant a lot to you. Survival doesn't mean we stop being human." Those words made me think. I hadn't thought like that in a while. Now here I was telling someone who's friend was eaten by the dead that staying alive didn't mean tossing aside one's humanity, when I had been doing the opposite? What was going on?

Clem looked down so the brim of her hat was covering her eyes, but I saw a tear roll down her cheek. She sniffed, and while she did, I saw Kenny come up. When he saw her with her head hung down, his face took compassion. He walked over to her, and gave her a hug. "There, there." He told her. Clementine trembled before she hugged Kenny back. They stood there for a few minutes, with Clem letting her emotions show while Kenny comforted her.

I looked off to the side to let them have their moment. I could feel tears threaten to come to my eyes, so I wiped them. The sight that was happening before me... it was so sweet... Despite the solemness of the situation, it was rare to get to see a moment like this these days. After a few minutes, I turned to check on them. It sounded like Clem was finishing up.

She wiped away her tears. "Let's get her buried..."

Kenny gave a nod. I walked over to them to help them move the body as we looked for a spot to bury Christa. To my surprise, I saw Chase attempting to dig a grave, Right now he was using a board to clear the snow from the ground. He managed to push away enough snow to reveal the ground, then started trying to dig with the board. It wasn't going very well.

Luke came over with his rifle. "Need some help?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice, thanks." Chase nodded.

Luke grabbed some of the debris and helped him dig. Soon enough, there was a hole large enough to put Christa in. Kenny, Clem, and I lowered her body into the grave, taking care that no part of her was left behind. Once she was in, we took a step back.

"Someone should say a few words." Kenny said as he cleared his throat. "It wasn't the best day when we ran into you and Omid, but you two proved to be solid. You were great friends, being there for Lee and I when things went to shoot. When Lee was bit, you still stood by us, when it would've been easy to just cut ties. Even though Lee asked me to take care of Clem, I wasn't able to keep that promise. But you did. You were there for her. You and Omid both. You gave her the closest thing Clem could have for a family in the apocalypse. Now, I pray to God that you have found peace, and you will know we will always remember you."

Clem wiped away another tear at his words before she spoke. "Christa... I'm sorry about what happened to Omid. And the baby. I won't forget you... I hope you're with Omid and the baby again... please tell Lee I said 'hi'..."

I gave her a look of sympathy as Kenny and Chase started pushing dirt back into the hole. I then heard the sound of hooves clopping on the ground. I turned to see a familiar horse retuning with its riders. "They're back." I said.

Chase noticed and waved over to them. "Hey, guys."

I then noticed Clair's expression. She looked pretty dejected about something... She just silently dismounted and helped Sarah down.

"How'd it go?" Kenny asked.

Clair shook her head. "We checked as many buildings as we could, but all we could find were some spare clothes and a few cans. No way we can winter there."

Kenny swore, kicking away some rubble. "I knew this would happen!"

"Clair? Did... something happen?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said as she walked off. "Since we're not staying here, we need to find some way to carry Rebecca without having her walk less than a day after giving birth."

I rose an eyebrow at that, but looked over at her horse. "Maybe Windrun could help with that?"

"That's what I was thinking." Clair admitted. "But unless everyone is willing to carry what little supplies we have on their backs, I'm not sure if it'll work."

"Oh, they'll carry them." Kenny said.

I looked at the older man at that. "If they're willing to do so."

"We'll run it by the others." Luke said. I turned to see Clem had taken Chase's place in helping bury Christa.

"What's going on here...?" Sarah asked.

I sighed. "We were burying Christa..."

"Oh." She went over to help. Clair remained silent as they got to work on helping finishing the burying.

Once that was done, Luke looked at us. "Now to give everyone the bad news."

"Oh, joy." I said sarcastically as Luke started to head towards the steps. I followed, wondering if Dylan was still asleep, and blushing at the memory of waking up this morning. I attempted to make my blush go down as I headed up the stairs. As I got up, I heard people talking.

"What do you mean the town's tapped?"

"Clair told us that there was barely anything there when she and Sarah left. All they found were a few clothes and some supplies. The town's not safe to stay in for the winter." Luke sighed.

"So what are we supposed to do? Walk until we find Kenny's Atlantis?"

"We should just find a place that's a lot safer than here. One that'll be safe enough for Rebecca and the baby." Luke said.

"Which is Wellington." Kenny said as he came up the stairs.

"We don't even know where that is." Tess said.

"It's out there, somewhere!" Kenny insisted stubbornly.

I noticed Dylan was awake now at this point. "And we should kill ourselves trying to find it?" He asked Kenny.

Kenny frowned at him. "You got a better idea?"

"Go south." Emily said. "It's much warmer there. Less snow. We won't have to worry about freezing to death."

Kenny just shook his head. "Wellington is our best shot."

"And what if Wellington is just a rumor?" Nick retorted.

I groaned as Clair also came up. Chase, Sarah, and Clementine were behind her.

"And what if it's not?" Clair asked Nick.

"We don't even know if they'll let us in if it does exist." Nick replied.

"It's a chance we have to take." Clair said. "If it means safety from the walkers, I'll travel to the ends of the universe."

Kenny nodded with approval.

"Well, what if the Heartless attack us? " I asked.

"Just use your key thing on them!" Kenny told me.

"I still don't understand what it's supposed to be! Or how she even knows its name!" I retorted.

"It kills those things. THat's enough for me." Kenny said.

"It did help out yesterday with that door." Mike reminded me.

"What door?" Kenny asked.

Mike explained, "Yesterday, we were trying to open this locked door at the museum, but her Keyblade, or whatever the thing is called, unlocked it."

That actually seemed to impress the guy, and those who didn't know about the door. "Are you serious?"  
Mike nodded. "Dead serious."

"Now that'll come in handy." Nick said. "At least we can get through some doors easier, now."

"Shame it can't make food appear out of thin air." Emily said.

"Oh, that would be great if it could..." I muttered, feeling my stomach growl a bit.

"There's food back at Howe's." Mike said.

Clair shook her head. "No. I'm not going back there unless there's no choice."

"Yeah, no way I'm goin' back to where that nutjob forced us to stay in." Chase agreed.

"But Rebecca can't travel. She just gave birth!" Tess reminded us. "We have to wait until she's fit enough to travel. We agreed on that yesterday, didn't we?"

I glanced over at Rebecca, who was holding her baby close to her. She did look a little tired.

Dylan sighed. "Kenny, look, we all agreed Rebecca should get some rest. We're not having this discussion again."

Man, Kenny is so stubborn...

Clair sat down in a free spot quietly. "And before anyone asks, no. Nowhere in the town is a place for Rebecca to rest." She told us. "We can't winter there, we can't stay for a few days."

Kenny clenched his fist and swore, turning around and heading off to where the stairs were, probably to take watch again.

I looked at my friend. "What happened?"

"Nunya happened." She said.

"Nunya?"

"Nunya business."

Sarah then spoke up. "We ran into some walkers."

"Sarah." Clair narrowed her eyes, but Sarah didn't notice.

"One nearly got us, but we managed to kill it. But there was another…"

"Sarah." Clair growled.

She shook her head. "It was a baby."

My eyes widened in shock, as did a few others. "Oh my gosh…" What I really said ended with a d.

Rebecca looked horrified hearing that.

Clair got up and began towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Clem asked.

Clair didn't answer her, but just kept going.

I looked at Chase, Dylan, and Sarah before following her. "Clair."

"Leave me alone."

"Clair..."

"I said leave me alone." Clair insisted, but I kept following her. I even grabbed her arm to try and stop her. She stiffened at that when I did.

"Clair!"

She turned to glare at me, but I was shocked at what I saw in her eyes. What…?! It looked like... pain. But we've all been experiencing pain for the last few years. So why do I feel shocked at seeing the amount of pain in her eyes. I released her arm, and then she left without a word.

* * *

Some time later I found myself back in the museum, looking at the spot where my Keyblade had changed form. I stared at it long and hard. It feels like my world is turning upside down, and not because of all this hocus pocus stuff. I've been finding myself feeling sympathy for others because of what they've been through, even though we've all suffered in similar ways for the last few years. And wondering things I haven't wondered about before. What is going on with me? I've been burying my emotions just to stay alive, and now when I thought survival was the same as apathy, they come back stronger than before. I didn't know what to think. It feels like nothing makes sense anymore. I let out a sigh.

"Anne?"

I turned to see Sarah walking in. "Sarah? What're you doing here?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts as the black haired girl approached me.

"I found something while in town." She said. "I was reading it throughout the day." She reached into her bag and pulled out a book.

"A manga?" I asked from the look of it.

She blinked. "A what?"

"Japanese style of comic." I explained. "I used to read several, like Naruto. Now that was a good series. You're supposed to read it from right to left instead of left to right. Man, I miss reading those..."

"I got it because I couldn't believe the cover." Sarah said.

I rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

She showed me the manga once again. "Here. Take a look."

I did a double take when my eyes fell on the cover of the book. On the cover was... Clair?! What the heck was she doing on a manga cover?! And who was the guy next to her? And... wait. Do they both have Keyblades? Sarah and I exchanged a look of shock before I opened the manga.

* * *

 **Sorry to end it there, but I don't want to give away spoilers to the rewrite of my Kingdom Hearts story. It's going to be on DeviantArt. If you're interested, note me and I'll give you a link. I'll also let you know when the first chapter is up.**

 **Special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace for the help writing this.**


	28. Chapter 28

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

 **Special thanks to AquaStormfall for helping me write this chapter.**

* * *

ANNE'S POV

There was even more snow on the ground as we made our way through the woods. Rebecca said she felt well enough to travel, but I wasn't sure about that. Clair had gone ahead and made a crude sledge for her to lay on while Windrun pulled it. She didn't look pleased, but she wasn't complaining. She was hardly doing that anymore, which had me worried. She also looked really pale. Did I mention my feet were freezing through my boots?

Sarah was walking beside me. She was nervous to be around Clair after reading that manga, and I don't blame her. It was full of crazy adventures, acting as if there were other dimensions besides our own. But there's no way that could be the truth. But then… we've seen the Heartless, and I can use a Keyblade. Could it be that what I thought I knew wasn't completely true? Ugh, this is making my head hurt!

Chase and Dylan were walking just ahead of us, keeping an eye out for walkers. However, from the looks they gave us, they were still considering the same things Sarah and I were. Truth be told, I ended up thinking about what happened a few days ago…

* * *

A few days ago…

"Anne? You alright?" Dylan asked me as he found me sitting on one of the broken walls. I looked up from the manga Sarah had found, after rereading it for the fifth time, only to look back at it. "You've been reading that thing for a while now."

Someone then tore it from my hands. "You found a comic? I haven't read comics in a… what the heck is Clair doing in this comic?" Chase didn't say heck, though.

"What?" Dylan took a look. "What's going on?"  
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." I told them. "Sarah showed me that after she and Clair got back from the town. Said she found it while they were looking for supplies."

"You serious?" Dylan asked me.

Chase flipped through the pages. "This has gotta be some sort of joke, right? Maybe she had a relative who was in the manga business, and…"  
"Chase, that's just it. There are no credits. No copyright claims." I showed him where they should be. "See? Nothing. NO company, no editors, no story artists. Nothing. Just Clair, that guy, and the Heartless."

"But why is she interacting with Disney characters?" Chase asked. "Come on. I've seen characters here I haven't thought about since the dead came back to life. The Genie, Donald Duck, Cloud Strife. Fictional characters."

"But that's just it." I told them. "The story explains so much. It seems to have the answers to the questions we don't have. It just… seems to click everything together."  
"Annie, what are you saying?" Dylan asked me. He hadn't called me Annie in a long time.

I looked at him. "I don't think this is a work of fiction here. I think what we're seeing in this manga omnibus is the story of Clair's past."

Chase looked at some of the pages near the end. "Whoa. Is that the Tesseract?"

"From Marvel?" Dylan asked.

I nodded, showing them the pages. "According to this, they ended up meeting Marvel heroes as well, and had to steal the Tesseract from Red Skull. But…" I flipped through the pages. "It cuts off at some points. It doesn't say how, but I get the feeling it has something to do with why she can't remember anything."

* * *

It took them some time, but they got more level headed about it. They studied it with me, trying to figure out the pieces. I was worried about them. I know they can be stubborn at times, and I was worried that they might dismiss my theories as delusion, nothing more. But I feel this is right, that what I'm thinking is right. Why else would I have a giant key for a weapon?!

I could hear Kenny calling out to us ahead, but I wasn't really listening. The wind was blowing too hard, and he was probably arguing with Luke or Nick again. That's all they did these last few days, argue about how to ration the food we had, who got the clothes from the town, and which direction we should be heading. Can't they agree on anything?

Rebecca then began a violent cough fit, making the baby cry in discomfort. Bonnie and Emily were then beside her, checking on her. "Maybe we should take a break." Emily suggested. "I'm not sure this sledge is working out."  
"Better than having her walk." Clair said. She had thrown a slap of the deck onto some flat boards, trying to make sure it would move through the snow. Her carpentry skills were… I'm not going to sugarcoat it. They were terrible. The thing kept bumping against every rock in the path, startling us and annoying the horse.

Tess came by. "Clair, I know you were trying to help, but I don't think this thing is working for Rebecca."

"It's not exactly a limo." Emily agreed.

"It was the best I could do with what was available." Clair defended herself.

Mike looked towards the spires. "Maybe we should wait until…"  
"No." Clair said. "Nothing's making me go back to that town. It's bad enough we have to pass it to head north."

"Everyone's cold and tired. We could rest there."  
"There's nothing there. I checked, remember? With Sarah."  
"Maybe you missed something."  
"Don't care. I'm not going back there."  
"She's right. We dilly-dallied already, and look where we are now." Kenny growled as he came over. "We keep pressing onward. Towards Wellington."

"We don't even know if it exists." Tess said.

The man glared at her with his one eye. "It exists. And we're gonna find it."

"Kenny knows what he's doing." Clem told Tess. "He won't let us down."  
I then heard a squeaking sound, like some piece of metal that needed oil or something. "Hello?" Someone called out.

"Who is this?" Mike asked.

We all looked to see a guy limping towards us. He had messed up brown hair with glasses, and was wearing a purple hoodie with jeans. I noticed he had a leg in some sort of cast.

Clem's eyes widened. "Arvo?

"Who's Arvo?" Emily asked.

"Jane and I met him on the observation deck. Before everyone else came."  
"Is he friend or foe?" Tess asked.

Nick's finger went to the trigger. "We gotta assume everyone's an enemy."

"He don't look like much." Bonnie observed.

"That ain't the point." Kenny agreed with Nick.

"I think he has a sick sister…" Clem said.

"Everyone, keep your eyes open." Luke instructed.

While looking around, I noticed Windrun was gnawing at the ropes which kept the sledge tied to him. Approaching the horse, I started to tell him to stop when I got this strange feeling. It was like there was another voice, speaking in both my mind and my heart at the same time. I don't know how to explain it, but it was saying that I needed to untie the horse now. And it didn't feel like something I should ignore. Pulling out my knife, I began to cut the ropes. I just hope nothing bad was about to happen.

* * *

CLAIR'S POV  
Several of us approached Arvo with our weapons in hand. He stopped a few feet from us. "Hello. You are Clementine." I noticed he spoke kind of funny, with some sort of accent. But it was different from the accents everyone else had.  
"What's going on here, friend?" Kenny asked. "You got people with you? Where are they?"

"You're not out here on your own, are you?" Luke asked him.

It was then he was joined by a woman, with brown hair and a cold expression in her eyes. I realized we were in trouble because she had a gun pointed at us. There was rusting and then we found two men with rifles coming from the woods. Sarah's eyes widened as she moved behind me.

"These are my friends. We stay hidden for safety, but you we know." Arvo said. "You're Clementine."

"The one who robbed you?" The woman asked. Arvo confirmed that, earning some chuckles from his people. I didn't like them. They looked at us like we were prey. Like Carver did.

"You got robbed of medical supplies by a little girl? That's hilarious" One of his buddies said. "They're no threat. We can kill all of them and just take their supplies, the way the little girl robbed you. Tell them to lower their weapons so we can take their supplies."

"What did they say?" Clem asked Arvo, making me confused. Couldn't she understand them?

Arvo looked at her. "I told them you were the ones who robbed me. They think it's funny that you're just a little girl."

"Robbed?" Kenny asked.

"And they want you and your friends to put down the guns so we can take your things."  
"That's not happening." I told him.

Clem also stood up. "I didn't steal from you. That was Jane."  
"Yes. The woman." Arvo looked around. "Where is she?"  
"Long gone." I said. "She left us days ago. Probably in the next state by now."

The others began to pull out their guns and point them at the thugs who were trying to steal our supplies. Arvo spoke again. "This can be easy for you."

"This is a waste of time. I say we kill them and just take what we want." One of the other men spoke.  
"All of you. Put your guns down. This will all be fine." Arvo said.

Sarah them spoke up. "We have a baby with us."  
"Who cares?" One of the men asked.

"This is a waste of time." The woman said.

"Natasha, please. Let me handle this." Arvo said. She responded by pointing her gun at Sarah, earning a gasp from her while Tess pointed her gun at the woman.

I grabbed and arrow and pulled the string on my bow back. "Lady, if you harm a hair on Sarah's head, I will make sure you don't see tomorrow."  
Her eyes widened. "You speak Russian?"

"What?" Now I was confused. "What the heck is Russian?"

"What the heck is Russian?" Arvo asked. "You're speaking it now."  
"ARvo, what are you doing? Who's speaking to us in Russian?" One of the men asked.  
"The girl. Here." Arvo pointed at me.

"I'm not speaking Russian." I said.

"Yes you are. And you speak it perfectly." Arvo was now looking at me curiously.

I then felt everyone staring at me. I looked to see the others were just as shocked as the people who were speaking this Russian were looking at me with wide eyes. What was going on? Why were they looking at me like I was some sort of freak? I didn't have time to wonder because not long a gunshot rang out.

"No!" Luke cried out but it was too late. The Russians raised their firearms and began shooting. In that instant, I just acted on reflexes. Grabbing Sarah, I rolled over the wall and pushed her to the ground, using my body to shield her while gunshots were fired. She covered her ears and tears began to flow from her.

"It's going to be okay, Sarah." I tried to comfort her. I looked up to see the woman, Natasha, fall with a red chest. She must've been shot. Arvo got down and began pushing against her chest. A clopping of hooves made me turn to see Windrun getting out of the line of fire, the ropes I tied to him now flying free. But who cut them?

"I'm hit! I'm hit!" I heard Mike say.

"Mike, get over here!" Bonnie called out.

Worried about the safety of my friends, I found myself looking around to check on them. "Dylan, get down!" I heard Chase yell, so I glanced in the direction of his voice. I could see he had ducked behind a tree as he fired a couple shots at the Russians, who were yelling curses at us. I also saw Arvo doing chest compressions on the woman, while Luke was hiding behind a section of the wall further down from us.  
Kenny shot both bullets and profanity at the Russians. "You started this!" He shot at a buff one hiding behind a boulder.

"I'm going to kill all of you, and then I will-"

"English!"

"I kill all of you!"

How could they not understand what these guys were saying?

"Clem!" Sarah called out. I looked and saw Clementine was caught in the middle of the gunfight while lying on the ground! Luke noticed her too, and his eyes widened.

"Clem, get out of there!" Anne called out while she hid behind a bush.

"Come to me!" Luke told her. However, as Clem crawled forward, she went to the side, going for… the baby! How could I have missed him? Once she had him, she made a quick dash to the wall, where she took cover with us. "Oh my. I didn't see him!"

While Bonnie and Mike, who took cover with us, returned fire, I turned to Arvo. If he didn't get out of there he'd end up the first meal of what was coming. "Arvo. She's gone."

"No, no she's not!" he cried out.

Dylan dove down behind a boulder as he fired another shot.

"Get out of there before she turns!" I snapped at him.

"Unless you're telling them to surrender, shut up!" Kenny yelled at me.

"Hey!" I heard Chase exclaim.

I then heard Luke cry out in pain. Turning, I saw him clutching his leg, which was now bleeding. He must've been shot! "Luke, no!" Bonnie said.

I looked around for the others. They had to get out of the line of fire. Anne turned out to be the closest. "Anne! You need to get out of there."  
She looked at me while keeping her head down. "Yeah, no kidding!"

I pulled out some arrows and readied my bow. "I'll cover you!"

She still looked afraid, but she got herself ready to run. I then fired an arrow into the woods, making one of the Russians duck down. Anne then bolted, running to the wall and vaulting over it and landing just a couple feet away from where Sarah and I were. "Where are Dylan and Chase?" She asked me.

I gestured to the woods. "Somewhere out there."

"Chase? Dylan?" She called out, but ducked down to avoid a bullet to the brain.

Kenny then grabbed a struggling Arvo, and put a gun to his head. Arvo protested, but Kenny held tight. "Try anything and I'll put a bullet in your friend's head!"

"Kenny, what are you doing?!" Clem asked.

"I'm ending this." he snarled.

I had to duck from some bullets that were fired. "Kenny, I don't think they're in a reasonable mood."

"Ya think?!" Anne's remark was full of sarcasm as she ducked down from some bullets that were fired.

Kenny shouted some swear words while ordering the thugs to stand down. However, that was the least of our immediate problems because the woman's body got up and started crawling towards us. I gasped as it ignored Kenny and Arvo, choosing to come towards us instead. Could the dead even choose?

"Walker!" Sarah gasped.

In sync, Clem readied her gun while I got an arrow ready, and then we fired at the same time. My arrow entered the corpse's shoulder while the kid's bullet passed through the brain, making it fall dead at our feed.

"Nooooooo!" With a burst of strength he broke free of Kenny's grasp and collapsed on the ground near the corpse. "Natasha! NATASHA!" he screamed, sobbing. "Please, no..." He then looked up at us with a glare, anger behind his eyes.

"She turned!" I tried to explain. "She was coming to bite us!"

"N-No, she couldn't have!"

"She did. I'm sorry, Arvo."

Arvo's eyes widened before letting out a wail of despair.

Dylan fired a shot at the burly Russian, shooting him in the head when he was about to fire. But I could still hear the last one firing both bullets and curses at us. "You're all dead!" he roared.

"What's he saying?!" Sarah asked.

"That we're dead." I translated.

"You're outnumbered! If you can understand, just stop shooting!" Dylan yelled.

"Never! You'll die here!" he snarled. "I'll kill you all!"

I could hear Emily, Tess, and Nick shouting as well, but I couldn't tell where they were though, with all the bullets firing everywhere. Anne fired some shots herself, but they missed him. "Dagnabbit, this is insane!" she exclaimed. "That guy just doesn't give up!" She didn't say dagnabbit.

I tried to fire an arrow, but I had to duck back down in a flash. "I can't get a shot." I said.

"First, I'll shoot the one eyed man, then I'll shoot you all! I'll eat your entrails for breakfast!" The man roared as he stepped out from behind the rock.

"What was that?" Anne asked me.

I shook my head. "Trust me. You don't want to know."

I still didn't get why they couldn't understand what they were speaking.

The man prepared to shoot again. "Say goodnight, you little-!" There was a gargling as his threat was cut off. I cautiously peered over the wall, seeing blood coming out of his mouth... as a knife was sticking out of the back of his neck. My eyes widened at the sight. Who did that? The man fell to his kneels as he choked on his own blood, revealing Jane standing behind him.

"Jane?" I asked, attracting the attention of Sarah, Anne, Luke, and Clem. They were shocked by her sudden appearance as well.

Kenny then coldly shot the man in the head.

Sighing, I looked at Sarah. "It's over. We're safe now." Sarah hesitated for a moment before she stepped out from behind the wall. Anne and Clementine got up as well as Clem cradled the baby.

"Is everyone okay?" Chase called as he poked his head out.

"Define okay." Anne said.

"We're alive." I told her.

Sarah looked down the path. "Not all of us."

I followed her gaze and my eyes widened seeing Rebecca lying dead with a bullet hole in her head. However, her skin was much paler and her eyes were milky white. Oh no... she turned... "How?" I asked.

Bonnie shook her head. "She just lost too much blood."

"It was too hard on her." Emily added as she and the others came out of hiding.

We all gathered around her body as some stared mournfully.

"Don't worry, Becs... we'll take care of him for you." Luke said.

"Clem spotted it first. Did what she had to to protect the baby." Bonnie noted.

Tess nodded. "I don't think Rebecca or Alvin will have to worry about their baby's future."

Emily placed a hand on Clem's shoulder. "Don't feel bad. You did the only thing anyone can do now."

"You saved his life." Sarah said.

"She's with Alvin now." Clem just told us.

Bonnie had remorse on her face. "Yeah... yeah, she is."

Kenny, however, clenched his fists as he stormed over to Arvo, who was still mourning his sister. "YOU! This is your fault!" he yelled as he punched him. That got our attention as we ran over to Kenny. Kenny prepared to punch Arvo again, but Mike and Luke got in between them. "That's enough, Kenny!"

"What the heck are you doing?!" Kenny snapped. He didn't say heck.

"It's over, man! It's done!" Mike told him, but based on the look on Kenny's face, he wouldn't listen to reason.

"You're defending this piece of crap?!"

"Get out of the way!" he demanded.

"Whoa, Kenny!"

"He DID nearly get us killed..." NIck crossed his arms.

"He didn't have a gun, though." I said. "The whole time he tried to revive her." I gestured to the woman's body.

"His sister is dead." Clem pointed out as well.

"Clem, you're really siding with this guy?!"

"Please, don't kill me! I don't want to see more people-" Arvo pleaded

"In English!"

"I... I no want to see more people dead!"

"Then close your eyes and I'll make it quick." Kenny hissed.

I had to do something. But... this was incredibly stupid. I put my head against the end of the gun.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

I looked at Kenny. "If you want to kill Arvo, you'll have to kill me first."

Kenny glared. "This piece of crap lied to his group and tried to rob us!" He didn't say crap.

"And does that give us the right to treat him the same way?"

"Kenny. I know this guy nearly got us all killed, but drop the damn gun." Anne frowned at him.

"There is house, food... please." Arvo begged. "Please, I can take you."

"You're just saying that!" Kenny accused.

"No, no, it is true, I swear!" Arvo insisted. "We have place. Not far. Food."

Kenny glared at him before reluctantly lowering his gun. "We got something to tie this shitbird up with?"

"Yeah... I have some rope..." Luke sighed as he handed it to him.

"Is not far, I take you."

"Just gimme a reason..." Kenny threatened as he pushed past me and bound Arvo's hands together.

"Yeah, man, he gets it!" Mike frowned at him.

Once he was tied up, we continued on our way. I noticed that Anne, Chase, Dylan, and Sarah lagged behind a bit talking about something, but I couldn't exactly hear what. I noticed they seemed to keep looking my way. I don't blame them. I feel like everyone sees me as a freak because of what happened with Arvo and the other Russians. Why was I the only one who could understand what they were saying...? It all sounded the same to me, as if I was conversing with my friends. I looked down as we trudged on. I wondered if they even wanted to speak to me...

* * *

ANNE'S POV

This was weird... Clair could understand and speak Russian? She said that she didn't know what Russian was. Yet she spoke it as fluently as she spoke English.

"Do you think maybe the book has a clue?" Sarah asked curiously.

I gave a shrug in reply.

"Do you think... maybe we should show it to her?"

"It might trigger another headache." Chase pointed out.

"I think after today someone's going to trigger one." Dylan said. "I think Kenny's going to demand answers from her."

I looked ahead and noticed that Kenny indeed was looking back at Clair while keeping his gun trained on Arvo. Aw, crap... I saw the others were giving her strange looks as well. She was keeping her head down to avoid the looks. I didn't blame her.

"Should we go talk to her?" Sarah whispered.

I wasn't so sure about that. Like Chase said, it might trigger her having another episode... I then heard a whinny, followed by the sound of hooves trotting on the ground as Windrun came back to us and headed straight for Clair. He nudged her a bit, and then she began to stroke his snout. I noticed she was smiling again. I don't think I've seen her smile at all for the past few days until now. I then noticed that Chase was looking at her with a faint smile on his face.

* * *

 **Yeah, this chapter was shorter than the last two, but I liked how it ended. I'm now trying to figure out how to handle the next few chapters without just repeating the games. Right now I've got just focusing on the original characters for those chapters and putting the game's events in the background.**

 **Yes, I am trying to put hints towards Clair's past here, but I don't want to spoil Journey of Discovery, especially the comic rewrite that's being made.**

 **For the record, I don't speak Russian. I was just putting my ideas as to what they were saying. As to why Clair could understand them, that's a sign that she's from another world. In my mind, if people did travel between parallel universes, people wouldn't be speaking the same languages we have. So I had to put in a magical law that dictates that whenever a person visits another world, they speak the language(s) of that world, but they hear their native language in their mind.**


	29. Chapter 29

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Emily belongs to HiddenTruthandLies2.**

 **Tess belongs to Tess Carver.**

 **Special thanks to AquaStormfall for helping me write this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 29

ANNE'S POV

We were deep into the woods by now. I could feel my heart racing from all the excitement. We got ambushed, had a gunfight break out, and now we had a possible location on food and supplies. I'd murder for a bag of Doritos, but something told me they had been eaten up by now. Man, do I miss the days of vending machines and fast food joints.

Luke groaned and fell over. "Hold up." Bonnie said as she supported him.

"I'm fine." He insisted.

"You're not fine." Emily deadpanned. "Your using that leg when you should be staying off it. What if the bullet's still in there?"

"It's not." Luke insisted. "I can manage."

"We should at least try to clean it." Sarah said. "If it gets infected, how will that help us?"

I nodded in agreement. "She does have a point."

"Yo, Kenny." Mike called up. "We need a break. Clean Luke's leg."

"Fine." Kenny said before telling Arvo to stop. When he kept going, Kenny went and knocked the kid over. That guy really needs to chill out, though personally I didn't trust Arvo any further than I could throw him. After some arguing between group members, we made ourselves as comfortable as we could be in the cold.

I noticed Clair was hanging back, almost like she was ashamed or afraid. Was it because of earlier? When she spoke fluent Russian and acted like we were still speaking English? That would freak me out too, to suddenly find myself capable of speaking another language and hearing no difference from what I was speaking before.

"I think one of us should talk to her." Chase said as he broke the silence between us.

"Talk with her about what?" I asked.

"You know."

"How do we talk with her about that?" Dylan asked. "It's not like she can tell us how she knows Russian, or why it sounded like English to her. Not without setting up one of these fainting spells."

"I don't know." Chase defended himself. "But keeping it inside ourselves isn't going to help."

Sarah, who was looking through the book, spoke up. "I think I have an idea." Holding it up, she showed us some panels. "It mentions something about a universal tongue. Sounds like some sort of ability that allows them to understand what everyone is saying."

Chase scratched his head. "You know, that kind of reminds me of something on Star Trek. Some technology that allowed the Trekkies to understand what all the aliens were saying, because there's no way aliens would be speaking English."

"What are you saying?" Dylan asked.

"I'm saying I'm starting to believe in magic."

I expected Dylan to tell his brother otherwise, to come up with some other explanation for all this strangeness. To be honest, I would've been somewhat relieved if he had. However, he looked at his brother and nodded. "Crazy as all this sounds, I'm starting to be convinced myself. There's just too much going on we can't explain."

Sarah seemed to smile at his words, but I groaned. I wasn't sure this was something I wanted to hear. I wanted some scientific explanation for why all this was happening. But for some reason, when Dylan said those words, I felt like something I had bee dreading has been confirmed. Yet at the same time, I felt relieved that two of my oldest and closest friends were believing in what was happening to us.

I found myself looking at the rest of the group. Were they starting to believe? I wasn't so sure. My gut said Kenny was refusing to believe, even though he had seen monsters come from the shadows, and me summoning that weapon. I kind of hoped that Clem would, but she seems to have grown past the time when kids would believe. And I can't help but notice some cynicism growing in her. True, she seemed to be holding on to some ideals of goodness, but for some reason I couldn't help but feel that was slipping away from her, and that scared me. Heaven knows we could all use some goodness in a world gone to… strange. I didn't like thinking of the word, even though I've used it a bajillion times. What was with that?

I then heard speaking. I looked up to see Chase had gone over to Clair, and was speaking to her in… was that French? I didn't speak it, but I recognized some of the words. To my surprise, Clair responded to him in French, speaking with such fluency that she could've been mistaken for a native speaker. The only giveaway was her accent. It still sounded the same. Chase didn't drop it with his French as he continued to talk to her, saying something that brought a smile to Clair's face. That was a relief.

While we waited, I found myself drifting back to the days before all this. Before the dead coming back became a reality. A time when we were living life, instead of not dying.

* * *

"… A third of Georgia's citizens have been reported missing by relatives, with hospitals getting more victims of mysterious attacks." The announcer on the radio was saying. "Citizens have been cautioned to evacuate to Atlanta, Savannah, Macon…"

"James. I'm getting worried about this." Mom was saying to Dad as we drove. "It sounds like things are getting serious out there. Maybe we should evacuate to one of the cities."

"I'm starting to think you're right about evacuating." Dad agreed. "However, I don't think we should head to one of the cities. We should go inland. To another state not affected by… whatever this is."

I pretended to be busy with my manga, but I was listening to every word. This outbreak was starting to sound serious, and everyone at school was talking about it. Some classmates had shown me videos of horrible things, like of cops shooting at people, but the bullets doing nothing to them, and of people who got fatal injuries attacking the people trying to help them. What made it even stranger was a few minutes later the videos would be taken down from YouTube, for no reason. Was the government trying to hide something from us? That's what some of the conspiracy theorists were saying, and they were saying it had something to do with that impact on December Twenty-first of last year. Apart from that, the so-called apocalypse had come and gone.

Mom was speaking again. "Where were you thinking about going?"

"Check on your brother, Eileen. Maybe in Michigan. Then get a plane to another country. Doesn't sound like they're going through what we are here."

"Like France?" I asked.

Mom and Dad turned to me when I said that. "Maybe. We'll see, honey." Mom told me.

"You doing okay at school?" Dad asked me.

I looked down. "Josh is still being a jerk. But I did stand up to him yesterday."

"Good, honey. Did you remember to let the school know?"

I nodded. "But he still refuses to listen to them. He still tries to make my life miserable."

Dad sighed at that. "That kid needs to be expelled. If this is going to be a continuing problem, then the school needs to take measures."

"I don't think that's going to happen, with school being canceled for the time." I told him.

"I know, sweetie. Just remember that you need to have hope that things will get better. Hope is a driving force for life. If we go without hope, then we do not live at all. What the heck?" He didn't say heck as he slammed on the brakes.

Gasping, I looked ahead to see someone walking in the middle of the road, shambling in a drunken manner. Was he nuts? We could've hit him. I silently cursed at him as Dad honked the horn at him while rolling down the window.

"Hey, bozo. Get on the sidewalk!" He yelled at him. The man just kept shambling towards us. Irritated, Dad got out of the car and stomped towards the man. "Are you deaf? I said— what the heck?" He didn't say heck, although he matched my thoughts exactly as the man went and attacked him, forcing him to the ground!

"James!" Mom screamed as she got out of the car and ran to him. I couldn't see what was going on, but unbuckling, I moved forward to get a better view. I saw Mom kicking the man, who turned and took a bite out of her leg!

My eyes widened as I saw both my parents lying on the ground, screaming in pain as blood came from their injuries. To make matters worse, the man just kept tearing pieces of them off and eating them like they were fried chicken. Seeing my parents hurt like that, in great pain while some… monster, hurt them like Josh hurt me… I wasn't going to stand for that. Opening the glove compartment, I found the gun Dad got to keep us safe from thieves and anyone else. Getting it out, I stepped out with my weapon, my eyes seeing red as I stared at the man.

THat's when I noticed the man had a chunk of his neck missing, and he stunk so much I think my nose was on fire. It reminded me of the time Chase locked himself in a mausoleum because of some dare, and when we got the door open we were hit by a stench so bad a skunk spray would've been an expensive perfume. And his eyes. They were white, like milk. He noticed me and stood, coming towards me. I had to do something. Pointing the gun, I open fired. I hit him square in the chest.

That was a relief. Dad took me to the shooting range, so I knew how to… he was still standing?! With a snarl, he lunged at me, teeth coated with the blood of my parents. That turned the fear to rage, as I opened fire on the person. Bullet holes appeared in his stomach, shoulders, and chest, but that still did nothing. What was with this guy? Why couldn't I kill him?

I screamed as he knocked me to the ground, trying to sink his teeth into my neck. Eyes wide, I began praying to God for help even though I was never a religious girl. I promised that if I got out of this I would be a better person. The barrel of the gun was positioned between me and the guy. I tried to push the guy off me, but now he was clawing at me. Then the gun went off, and a big hole appeared in his head. The man stopped snarling and went limp. Pausing, I pushed to find no resistance except gravity, and then I heaved him to the side. I then saw that somehow the barrel had ended up pointing under his head. Wait. Why would no other wounds stop him? I saw the imprints I left in the neck, and then realized with a thumping heart that I didn't feel a pulse while struggling with him. But if he had no pulse… that could only mean… he was already dead! I fought with a corpse, that came back and bit into… my parents!

Hurrying over to Mom and Dad, I saw them grasping their wounds as their breathing became ragged. "Easy. There's a first-aid kit in the car. I'll clean your wounds, and then we'll get you to a hospital."

"No, Anne." Mom told me. "This is… what the news refused to say. The dead are coming back to life."

"Mom, that's crazy."

Dad coughed as he looked at me. "The world is crazy. And it's going to get worse, Anne." With another cough, he looked at me. "Take the car. Get yourself to Michigan."

"No. No, I'm not leaving you two."

"You have to." Mom said. "Did you not see him? That was a bite in his neck. He must've gone through what we're going through. It's only a matter of time."

"No. NO! THat's not true!" I said. "There's got to be a cure!"

"Annie, this is a plague unlike any other. We don't have a cure." Dad told me. "You've got to leave us."

"NO!" I could hear more shuffling. Turning, I saw from down the street, there were more people coming, and they were growling like that one guy was. I could hear movement behind me, and I saw Dad was helping Mom get to the sidewalk.

"Go." Dad told me. "Find your uncle. Your grandfather. If you can't find them, then find someone who knows what's going on. Annie, do this for us. You're stronger than you know."

"No. No." Tears flooded to my eyes. "Please don't make me do this. Don't make me leave you."

"We'll always be with you. In here." Mom pointed to my heart.

"But I don't want you in my heart. I want you with me."

The snarling was getting louder, and Dad looked concerned, and pale. "Anne, there's no time to argue. Keys are in the ignition. Take it and go. While you can."

Mom then pulled me in and hugged me with Dad. I returned the hug, tears flowing down my face, when all of a sudden they pushed me away. I stumbled in the street while turning to go back, but the first of the people were on them. They sunk their teeth into my parents, their screams forever haunting my memory. Realizing some of the… corpses, were coming towards me, I ran into the car, closing the door before moving over the driver's seat, where I closed it and rolled up the window as one of them tried to get in. Remembering the pedal people in movies would step on to get the car moving, I slammed my foot onto it. I heard the tires squealing as I sped forward, leaving the dead behind, and seeing m parents get torn apart in the rearview mirror.

* * *

I crashed that car not too long afterwards, but that was the day my life ended. That, to me, had been the apocalypse, only two, three months after the supposed one the Mayans predicted. I remember the despair, the loneliness I felt, how hopeless all seemed to be. And in the last few days, I've felt more hope and optimism than I've felt in years. It was great to feel that way. It was like something that had been missing from the world is finally back.

That was when I heard the cawing. Looking up, I saw a flock of crows flying over us, crying out like they did back at Howe's. Dread filled me as I remembered what had happened that day. Standing up, I looked at everyone. "We have to move. Now!"

"But you aren't going anywhere." A creepy voice said. That's when I noticed the creepy guy from before leaning against a tree, a gold coin being rolled through his fingers. My eyes widened as I realized he was in the manga Sarah found, just like Clair.

"You." Clair got an arrow ready, though she looked as if she was fighting a migraine. "You murdered Carlos!"

He turned to look at her. "Ah, yes. I did. And I am here to tell you that he was only the beginning."

"So your plan is to kill us one by one, is it, Santos Ceres?" I got my gun and pointed it at him.

That caused the murderer to drop the coin and look at me, his eyes a mixture of surprise and angry. "How did you figure out my name? Does she remember?" He turned his gaze to Clair, who looked like her headache was getting worse.

"Nah, I kinda figured it out." I lied, deciding not to reveal the manga to this creep as I kept my aim on him.

His eyes narrowed at me. "No matter. I'll figure out how you knew when I pry the information from your brain."

I noticed the others were aiming their weapons at him. "You're not a smart retard, are you?" Emily asked him. She didn't call him a retard.

"Oh, my intelligence far exceeds all of yours." He said.

"Oh really, now?" Kenny spat, narrowing his working eye.

"Oh, yes. Because it is all of you who are surrounded." With a snap of his fingers, I noticed several Heartless surround us. Shadows, Soldiers, and some taller, mutated version of the Shadows I haven't seen before.

Sarah screamed in fear while I holstered my gun, summoning my Keyblade to use instead. "Aw shoot. you've gotta be kidding me!" I exclaimed as the Soldiers and Shadows charged towards us. I didn't say shoot though. I glared at them before swinging at a Shadow that leapt at me, knocking it away. It crashed right into a Soldier, but another one came at me. I let out a yell as I hit the ground. It tried to claw at me, but I pounded my Keyblade on it to try and knock the Heartless of off me.

"Get off her!" I heard Dylan snarl as he pulled the Heartless off me. I managed to sit up, but saw that he was now struggling with it himself. "Hurry!" he told me. I nodded before I quickly attacked the Soldier just as he let go of it. It fell to the ground, but before it could get up I impaled it with my weapon. The Soldier became limp before it slowly faded away into dark wisps. Dylan and I let out a sigh of relief at that, but it was short lived since there were still more Heartless.

Kenny shot at a Heartless, but it wasn't really doing much good. His potty mouth also seemed to rile them up. One attempted to claw at him, but he ran to the side before it could even get him. I noticed Arvo tried to slip away, but some Soldiers outflanked him, making him turn and hurry back towards us. Tess and Nick were firing at the Heartless, but they weren't being that effective either.

The larger mutant Shadows… no. Neoshadows. The name just came to my mind. They slid into the ground and slid forward towards us. One leapt out of the ground, slashing at me with its claws, but I held it back with my Keyblade. Another went for Mike, who grabbed it and pinned it to the ground. Kicking the one that was attacking me back, I jabbed it twice, before bringing the blade down. It faded back into the darkness. Tess fired her gun at one, but it knocked the gun out of her hand and pulled its claws back. Nick then bashed it on the back of the head with his rifle, but it didn't do much good other than distract it. I had to run over and finish it off.

Chase and Emily were shooting, but to no avail. "Back off!" Chase yelled as they started backing away themselves. I felt like we were being corralled into a corner, even though it was the woods. They were just everywhere, and we couldn't make a heading. A Shadow knocked Sarah down, but I jabbed it a couple of times before slicing it and finishing it off. I looked around, trying to see where Santos Ceres was as Dylan and I helped up Sarah. I found him, and my blood went cold as I saw Clair was struggling against him, but he grabbed hold of her and forced her to the ground.

"CLAIR!"

Chase looked up and looked horrified as well. "Let her go!"

Santos looked at us. "if you knew who she truly was, you'd kill her yourselves."

"We wouldn't." Chase said firmly as I narrowed my eyes.

"She's one of us." I added.

"Y-Yeah!" Sarah said, though she was glaring at Santos. I could tell Sarah was angry, most likely about him killing Carlos.

"She was never one of you." Santos said. "She tries to belong with you, but she can never be one of you."

"Shut up. You don't know a freaking thing about her!" I exclaimed while pointing my Keyblade at him in an attempt to threaten him.

"Oh?" He smiled. "She is the daughter of Thomas and Elisa Fay, claiming she's a descendant of the Hocamli tribe. Her grades in school were top, what you would consider A's and B's. She found relief in the reading of fantasy because she didn't like the hard truths of life. She engaged herself in the mystical arts when the opportunity came up. And when she was given a chance to return home, she turned it down because her home no longer appealed to her."

All the time while he said that stuff, Clair shut her eyes and her face twisted in pain, as if someone were drilling into her skull. I was kind of scared because I came across information like that while reading that book. But I'm not sure what being forced to remember all this would do to her.

Chase glared at Santos, but also looked concerned for Clair. "Leave her alone."

"She jumps away to the next thing that attracts her. As soon as she finds something else that she likes, she'll leave you."

We were still fighting the Heartless as he tortured her in this manner.

"Stop it..." she pleaded.

"SHUT UP!" Sarah suddenly screamed, which surprised a few of us. "Clair cares about her friends! She's helped us so many times! She's given us hope. She's helped me to be strong, to keep going even though everything is shoot right now." Sarah didn't say shoot. "She's reminded us what it means to be selfless, to put everyone else's needs in front of her own. She's a good person. She's not like Carver, and she's nothing like you. So stop acting like you know everything about her because you don't!"

I could feel something about Sarah. It reminded me of the Keyblade, and yet was different. Whatever it was, it seemed to have a similar effect, because I noticed a Shadow try to sneak up on her, only to pause and turn around.

Santos smirked. "Ah, the child who should've shut down. I know what you have too. When your father died, your anxiety should've kicked into overdrive. You should've shut down like a car's dead battery. But here you are, standing tall, cussing me out, and giving me the defiant look. And you never bothered to ask why that is?"

Sarah just glared at him, standing her ground. "I don't care. All I know is that you're hurting my friend, and you need to stop."

"Or what?"

She then held up... wait. Is that my gun? I looked at my holster, to see it was gone. She took it?! When did that happen?! She aimed it at him.

He laughed at that. "You're going to shoot me? Do you even know how to work that thing?"

Sarah kept glaring. "I do." She then pulled the trigger. The bullet zipped through the air and hit him right in the shoulder.

The impact made Santos let go of Clair, who fell to the ground holding her head. Pulling his hand away from his shoulder, where he clutched it after being shot, the creep saw blood on his hands from Sarah's attack. He snarled at the hispanic girl for that. "You... you dare?!"

"You killed my dad..." Sarah retorted. That was when a root wrapped itself around her throat, pulling her to the ground while it tightened around her neck. She gasped for air as she struggled. My eyes widened in horror before I growled.

"Sarah!" Clementine yelled. She ran over and tried to help her friend, only for another root to grab her.

"Let them go!" I charged at Santos, only for a root to impale me in the shoulder! "AAAAGGGGHHH!" I screamed, feeling the agonizing pain. It hurt so much!

"Anne!" Dylan ran over to me, but got attacked by roots too. One by one, everyone was set upon by roots. I cringed, my shoulder throbbing intensely in pain as the root stayed there while I tried to grab it.

"No! Don't hurt them!" Clair yelled.

Santos just smirked tauntingly.

Chase struggled to break free from the roots that were restraining him. "C-Clair..." He said weakly.

Clair looked at all of us, with helplessness in her eyes. She shut them... and when she opened them they were glowing. I could see her hair start to blow like in the wind, except there was no wind. The snow at her feet began to swirl around her. Huh?

"What's... What's happening?" Clem questioned, straining.

"LET THEM GO!" Clair thundered as we all got hit by a massive wave of energy that made me black out.

* * *

CLAIR'S POV

Oh… my head… I winced, slowly reaching up and placing a hand on it. It felt like Genie went and had a party in... wait. Genie? I remember him. He was this big, blue, fun guy... Did all sorts of crazy, random stuff with explosions... and Moana… and Belle… they were all… oh no! My friends! I sat up with a gasp, looking around to find them lying still on the ground. My blood froze at the sight. As fast as I could, I scrambled to my feet, nearly tripping as I went to check on them. Reaching Anne first, I put my finger against her neck, searching for a pulse. I sighed in relief when I found I could feel a beat. She was still alive.

"That was quite the show of force there." I turned to see Santos standing there with a smug look on his face. I gasped as I quickly put myself in front of my unconscious friend.

"I'll do worst to you if you try anything again." I wasn't sure if I could so anything worse than what I did.

"But that's just it. The more you resist, the more you fight, the more I'll keep coming. Go on. Run away. I'll just kill your friends here. And then I'll hunt you down and kill the people you befriend next, and the people after that, and so on. There is no escape, Clair. But then, you did betray your own world."

I clenched my fists as I managed to glare at him. Several swear words I heard everyone use tried to escape my mouth, but I held my tongue. I kept my eyes on him, making sure to be ready in case he tried anything.

"I'm not the one you should be angry at." He gestured. "Look around. In your attempt to stop me, you hurt your friends. The people who cared for you, took you in when you had nothing. And look how you repay them. By blasting them with your own magic."

"Magic?" I was confused, but I could see bits and pieces. I did have magic. I could use it. It was wonderful. It was glorious. It was terrifying. I couldn't believe it.

Santos just smirked as he took a step back. It was obvious he was enjoying this. "There is a way you can save your friends."

I looked at him. "How?"

"Come with me. Come quietly, do not resist, and I swear I will spare these individuals."

My eyes widened. What?!

One of the Heartless appeared over Anne and held a claw over her heart. "Unless you'd prefer your friends to join the legions of darkness?"

"NO!" I cried out with a gasp. "Don't hurt them!" With a sigh, I fell to my knees. "All right. I'll go with you. Just leave them alone."

Santos smirked again. "Good..."

Anne was still unconscious, but I did hear her murmur something, though. "M... Mo..."

I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't want this, but this is for your own good. You'll be better off without me. I brought all this upon you. But now, you have a chance. Find Wellington. Find somewhere safe. And forget me.

Turning to Santos, I saw him open some sort of oval door behind him. It seemed to come from the shadows, with wisps of darkness floating out from it. I shuddered, but I remembered my promise. I walked towards it, and entered.

* * *

ANNE'S POV

Ugh... what... what happened...? Was I... dreaming...? I found myself standing in some sort of field, but there were no trees. I couldn't see a horizon. Huh? How did I get here? I looked around with confusion as I took a couple steps forward. I then looked ahead and my heart nearly stopped when I saw who was standing just several feet away from me. "M... Mo... Mom? Daddy? They... they looked... like they were never eaten alive.

My vision became blurry. I realized I was crying. I then felt some arms around me. "Oh, sweetie. It's okay." I broke down there, crying as I almost fell to my knees.

But another set of arms held me up. "There, there."

I looked up at my parents, choking out, "I missed you so much!"

"We never left you, dear." Mom told me. "We walked the paths you walked, seen the horrors you've seen. We've wept for you when you hurt, and cheered when you found joy."

I gasped. "You... You were there?" I asked in nearly a whisper.

Mom smiled at me, wiping away one of my tears. "Yes. But you could not see or hear us."

"Remember what we said that day? That we'd always be with you? It was true." Dad said.

I wiped away my tears before hugging them tightly. But then I found myself wondering, why could I see them now? I gasped. "Am I dead?!"

Mom shook her head, easing my worries. "You can see us now because we can appear to you in your dreams." she assured me.

"Will you do that more often?" I asked them.

"Of course, Annie." Dad promised me, ruffling my hair and making me smile. I had no idea I had missed him doing that. I guess I've just been focusing too much on surviving. But I could feel that somehow there was more to this than a social call.

"You're right, sweetie." Mom told me. Did she just read my thoughts?

"We're here because you stand at a crossroad." As Dad spoke, I could see a literal crossroad appear before me. "One road will take you down a path like the one you've journeyed until now. You won't face any more Heartless, but you will lose the Keyblade, and slowly, you will come to see life as dark, that the only thing that matters is surviving."

I gasped at that. Lose the Keyblade? "What... what about the other?" I asked nervously.

"You will face many hardships." Mom told me. "You will face enemies more dangerous than any walker herd, men and women with more power than those like Carver dreamed of. However, the journey will temper you, refine you into a force for good, and you will see more clearly than you have before. But down this road is a promise of happiness, of love."

That one... it sounded much more appealing than the first road. I remembered her warnings, but if there was a chance at a future without walkers, it was a no brainer.

"That's our girl." Dad said. "Remember, follow the elk. He will guide you."

"Elk? What elk?" I asked curiously. I winced as I then felt a stabbing pain in my shoulder. Huh...?

"Find your friend, Anne. This world is falling past redemption. But the rest need her still."

Rest? Wait. What?

"You should probably wake up now, sweetie." Mom told me.

No. I wasn't ready. I- I found myself back in the forest, with pain not only in my shoulder but throughout my entire body. "GAAAH!" I cried out, my eyes snapping open as I sat up, clutching my shoulder. First thing I noticed was the root was gone.

"You're awake." I heard Bonnie say, but I wasn't looking for her. I shakily pulled my hand away from my shoulder. It wasn't bleeding, but I could see blood clot from where the root impaled me. I winced at the sight.

I looked up and noticed several others starting to wake up, including Chase, Dylan, and Sarah. Bonnie and Jane were helping them, while the others were recovering from… the incident. The Heartless were all gone. Dylan's eyes widened before he scrambled over to where I was. "Anne! Are you okay?"

"Apart from my shoulder and my aching bones, I'm fine." I said.

Chase smirked. "Don't tell me you're getting arthritis at your age."

I rolled my eyes at his quip, but then I realized something. "Guys? Where's Clair?"

"Gone." Came the answer from Jane.

"What?" Chase asked, his eyes widening.

"You heard me."

Clementine slowly came to, wincing, but then gasped. "Where's the baby?!"

I heard soft whining and saw that he was resting in Bonnie's arms, thankfully." He's okay. Just a little shook up from that explosion."

"That was no explosion." I said.

Sarah nodded. "That was magic."

Jane scoffed. "Uh huh, sure."

"It was!" I told her.

"What else could it be?"

"Some sorta explosive." Kenny said.

Chase looked at him. "Explosions don't come before glowing eyes and floating hair." He was the first to get up to his feet. "Come on, we've gotta find Clair."

"No. We're gonna get the so-called supplies from the Russian, and then we're finding Wellington." Kenny said. I noticed Arvo was on the ground, holding his head.

"Who made you leader of this group?" Jane retorted.

"We have to find her!" Chase added.

"No. I say we leave her. She's been nothing but trouble." Kenny looked at Luke and Nick for support, who had gotten to their feet.

Luke scratched the back of his head. "Well... last time she left, we got no trouble from those things."

"How could you say that, Luke?!" Sarah gasped. Luke winced at her tone.

"He says it because it's the truth." Nick said. "And I'd rather face something I can kill."

Sarah shook her head, taking a step back. "She's our friend." She looked at Emily and Tess for help. "Come on. Say something."

Tess opened her mouth, but no words came out as she looked down. Emily looked a bit reluctant. "Tess?" I asked her, but a look in her eyes told me all I needed to know. I shook my head before I pushed myself back up to my feet, wincing while the two of them did the same.

"Chase. Get your brother on his feet. We're leaving." Kenny ordered while he got up.

Chase shook his head. "No."

"What?" Kenny frowned, glaring at them.

Chase stood his ground. "We're going to look for Clair."

"We're going to Wellington." Kenny said firmly.

"And who says all of us are?" Dylan retorted as he got up.

Mike then spoke up while he got to his feet. "Are you guys serious? On there on your own?"

"We've done it before." Dylan said.

"This is suicide. You'll die on your own." Bonnie said.

"We'll be okay." I told her. "We can't just let this slide. She's our friend. We have to find her."

"She's brought nothing but disaster to us." Kenny said. "I say let the walkers take her."

"For once, I agree with Kenny." Jane said. "Ever since we met her, there's been nothing but trouble hitting us."

"It wasn't her fault!" Chase snapped. "It was the Heartless!"

Dylan glared at Kenny. "Screw you."

Kenny's eye flared up, and he looked like he was about to blow up.

"Leave them." Arvo said. "Less mouths. More food. For you."

"Can it." Kenny growled at him, though I swear that he might've seen some sense there.

"Stop arguing." Clem said. Sarah's face brightened, and I thought the kid was going to argue in our favor. "This is getting us nowhere. If they want to go find her, then we should let them." she said.

"Clem? Don't you wanna come?" Sarah asked.

When she gave her answer, I could see her amber eyes were full of remorse and fear. "A friend and I once made a plan to find my parents, even though the city was overrun by walkers. When he told me that we had to leave without searching for them, I rebelled and went looking for them anyway. Because of that... I ended up getting him killed." She closed her eyes as if she were trying to block the pain. "I won't make that mistake again. If you want to go look for her, then go. But I'm staying with Kenny."

We were surprised by that. Sarah looked at her sadly. "C-Clem?"

"I'm sorry, Sarah, but I don't want the same thing to happen."

"Then we know who's doing what? Right?" Mike asked. With the silent agreement, he then reached for Windrun, only to draw his hand back when the horse snapped at him. "Whoa. What the heck?" He didn't say heck.

I looked at the horse to see a fire in his eyes, with flaring nostrils and teeth bared.

"Whoa, whoa, easy." he said, cautiously taking a step back.

"Windrun?" I asked, just as cautious. When he looked at me, he calmed down.

"I think he wants to go with them." Luke said.

"Fine, let the dang mule go." Kenny said as he glared at the four of us. He didn't say dang. The horse glared at him for that.

"But what about our supplies?" Tess asked.

I sighed as I started to untie some of them. "You guys can take some."

Some of the others looked unsure, but Bonnie nodded. "At least you won't be out there with nothing."

Soon, we had given the group some of the supplies, leaving ourselves with a bit as well to get us by. We then watched as those in favor of following Kenny left us, disappearing into the woods. Clem, however, looked back at us one final time before catching up with the rest of them.

Sarah looked down sadly. I put an arm around her in an attempt to comfort her. After a moment or two, we decided to head on our way. I would've followed the footprints, but the blast had cleared out the snow around us, exposing the grass underneath. As we walked, I looked up into the sky with a sigh.

How were we going to find Clair? I wasn't sure, but there was one thing I did know from deep within my heart. Pulling out the remains of my bandana, I let it slide out of my hands onto the grass, and then kept walking with my friends. It was time I let go of the past. Whatever path we took, one thing was clear.

There was no turning back.

* * *

 **And with that, the group is divided. I tried to keep it going until the Kenny vs. Jane showdown, but I figured everyone's read that enough times, and it was time to be different. Right when things might quiet down, chaos rears its ugly head.**

 **Apologies for the delay. I'm trying to work hard on my book. Right now I'm averaging at about 600 words a day. I hope this long chapter makes things up.**


	30. Chapter 30

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts or The Walking Dead.**

 **Clair Fay is mine.**

 **Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestiniesEmbrace.**

 **Chase and Dylan Enheart belong to I_heart_Lyoko.**

 **Special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace and I_heart_Lyoko for helping with this.**

* * *

Lost and Alone Chapter 30

CLAIR'S POV

Pain. Agony. THat's all I've felt from the past ten days. Ever since Santos brought me to this place, I've been trapped to this table, bound while he put me through excruciating tortures. I should've bled to death, but he would keep healing my wounds just so he could inflict them upon me again. I found myself wishing he would just end my life instead of doing this to me.

The door opened again, and I saw him come in with more devices for torture. At least that's what he used them for. They appeared to be some sort of medical tools that rung very loud bells in my head, but I couldn't figure out why. They seemed to dig into my very DNA itself when they were used, yet they hurt like I had been skewered by a sword hot off the forge.

"Why? Why are you doing this?" I asked him.

He looked at me. "Because of you."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I can't give you anything."  
"Yes, you can." He pulled out another device. "You can give me your magic." When he drove that thing into my arm, I screamed so loud I was sure that every walker for miles heard it.

* * *

ANNE'S POV

I was ready to give up. Ten days of wandering around, trying to find this elk, and we have come up with nothing. Nothing! I was starting to have my doubts about all this. Shouldn't we have found something by now that would help us find Clair? If she was so important, why were we just wandering around in the woods? We were all freezing our feet off.

Sarah was looking into the supplies we had. "We're almost out." She told us. "We need to find somewhere to resupply."

"I don't know where we're going to find supplies." Chase said. "Towns are too risky and camps have already been raided. Unless you know of a tree that grows whatever we need it, I don't see how we're going to do this."

"We have to." I said. "We made our choice, and we have to live with it."

Dylan nodded. "She's right. No sense questioning our choices now."  
"I wasn't." Chase said. "I was just wondering what we're going to do about food and stuff. But mark my words, I'll go to the ends of the earth to find our friend."

Windrun cuffed in agreement, walking beside Sarah. The horse had been a sure defense for us, providing an extra watch and helping those of us who were too exhausted to keep walking. Right now we've been taking turns riding on his back, and now it was Sarah's turn.

"We probably need to head south." Dylan said. "If we keep wandering around in the snow, unprepared, we'll just give ourselves hyperthermia and frostbite."

"I think I already have frostbite." I said as I shook my feet again. "I swear my feet have forgotten what it means to be warm."

"I didn't know your feet could think." Chase joked.

I rolled my eyes at him, when I saw something that took me by surprise. It was a walker coming right towards us. But shouldn't it be too cold to even move? But if that wasn't the case, that would mean… oh, heaven's no. The others were not safe looking for Wellington! "Walker!" I cried out.

Cussing, Dylan pulled out his gun and aimed at the walker. The corpse shambled towards us, but Dylan fired. The gunshot echoed around us, but the walker kept coming. He must've missed it. Crap. I pulled out my gun, and aimed as did Chase. The three of us fired at once, but I couldn't tell which of us got the walker, as the hole that appeared in its head made it fall over dead.

I sighed in relief, but was nervous because we were now down four bullets. Without a way to manufacture them ourselves, it was only a matter of time before we ran out of ammo completely. And that was a day I found myself dreading.

"Oh." Sarah said from the horse, who also nickered. We looked at her to find her looking at something behind us. The three of us turned to see something I know was not standing there a moment ago. It was an elk, but not like any elk I had seen before. Its fur was well groomed, and had no smudges or foliage caught in it, and its antlers almost appeared to be glowing.

We just stood there, staring at the animal, when Windrun nudged me from behind. "Hey, what?" I asked the equine. He just nudged me again, pawing at the ground as if he were getting impatient. "Okay, okay. I'm going." I said as I approached the elk. Even though it was an animal, I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable. Memories of all the times I had used profanity, and when I attacked other people in cold blood, and all the hatred for people like Carver and the people who tortured me in school before the apocalypse had hit. Even when I had done those things just to stay alive, I couldn't help but feel ashamed. As I approached the elk, and saw those black eyes, I felt like it was looking into my soul, and a part of me wanted to get away.

Then I remembered my parents, and the dream I had. They had been so alive, and a part of me could feel that joy as I came closer to the elk. Even though I lowered my eyes to the ground, where I saw that the elk was standing on top of the snow instead of in it. And I have no idea why I did this, but I knelt before the animal. I can't explain why I did that, but I felt like it was the right thing to do. Plain and simple. And I couldn't ignore that feeling.

"H-hi, Mr. Elk." I said. "I-I was told to find you, and here we are." I didn't hear a response from the elk, yet I couldn't help but feel that it was waiting for more. "I-I don't know why we need to find you, but we need help. Our friend, Clair, she's been taken by someone called Santos Ceres, and we have no idea where to find her. We need help. Please. We aren't much for believing, but we've seen too much to not believe. We all left our group to find her, because we believed. Now, please…" I looked up and saw something I did not expect.

There were tears in the eyes of the elk. As I looked, I realized the elk understood my pain, my fear. Not just mine, but every one of us here. That surprised me because I didn't expect that from the elk. I was starting to wonder if this was even an elk.

It then did something else. Leaning forward, it pressed its nose against my gunshot wound, which I was feared may have started to get an infection. I gasped at that, but then my shoulder didn't feel as stiff as I remembered it. Looking down, I stood with a gasp as I saw the wound was now gone. There were no scabs, no hints or traces of a scar, nothing. It was just like new. I touched it with tenderness, and found I could feel again. I looked at the elk with surprise, but found what looked like a knowing smile on its face.

"Anne?" Dylan asked. I turned, and when he saw my wound was gone, his eyes widened. "What the…" He was about to swear, but he caught himself. I think he could tell that swearing was just as bad in this situation. Chase helped Sarah off of Windrun, and the three of them came over. I was surprised to see Windrun kneel before the elk, like I saw the zebras do in the Circle of Life song on The Lion King. Sarah and Chase also knelt before him.

"Welcome, Anne Marshall. Welcome, Dylan and Chase Enheart. And welcome to you, Sarah." The elk then said. The voice made me think of the love my parents had for me, and reminded me of the joy I had when I first met Dylan and Chase. However, the fact that the elk was talking was pushing me to my limits. I had read about talking animals in stories, and seen films where they spoke, but here, in person.

"D... Did you just-?" Dylan gawked at the elk.

"Talk?" the elk finished, giving a nod.

I pinched myself, but I found the elk still standing there in front of us. Chase's jaw dropped.

"Whoa…" I said as I took a step back. The elk was talking. The elk was TALKING! But how was that possible?

"H-H-How can you talk...?" Sarah asked, stammering. The elk looked at her. She looked incredibly shy when it looked her way.

"That is not important now, dear one. What's important is what you've chosen to do."

"Go after Clair?"

"Do you know where she is?" I asked quickly. "We've been searching for her for ten days."

"She has been taken to Savannah, and is being tortured by her captor."

We all gasped. "Tortured?!" Chase asked, looking like he was the most worried out of us all. "We gotta help her!"

"But how?" Sarah asked. "Where is Savannah?"

"It's in Georgia." Dylan told her.

"B-But... that's miles away from here!" I pointed out as I turned back to the elk. "How are we supposed to get there?!"

"I will take you there. Please, step forward." We blinked, but we did as he said, approaching the elk. Even Windrun took a couple steps forward. The elk then lowered himself to the ground. "Anne. Sarah. Climb on my back."

"Uh... okay?" I said as I climbed on, then helped Sarah up. However, though I was a little nervous, I did feel safe. I made sure Sarah was in front of me, so I could keep hold of her.

"Dylan, Chase, ride on Windrun."

The brothers did as he said and climbed atop of Windrun, who trotted to the elk's side.

"Do not fear. He will be able to keep up." The elk said as we began to run. As we moved, I noticed something strange. We appeared to be running at a normal speed, yet the environment changed around us. One moment we were in a snow-covered field, and then the next we were in a parking lot by Howe's. Then we were by a highway with scattered cars. How could we be moving so fast, yet it still feel like we were going at a normal pace? I could hear the elk and Windrun's hooves clopping against the pavement. It was still cold outside, but the snow gave way to grasslands.

"Whoa..." Sarah gasped in awe of what was happening. I was in awe as well. I got the feeling we were really traveling faster than any car could. Almost like... what was it called in the movies? Hyperspeed? I think that was it.

Eventually, the elk came to a halt. "We're there." he announced. I looked to see what appeared to be a maintenance shed of some sort. I felt a little disappointed because I had been expecting something a little more. "They're in there?"

"Yes." the elk replied.

"Doesn't look like much." Chase said.

Dylan looked at his brother. "Don't forget, from what we saw in the manga, they come from another world. Who knows what traps could be waiting for us inside."

"Oh... right." Chase then turned to the elk. "Now, how do we fight this guy and save Clair?"

"You will need help." The elk said as he looked at me. "When you need help, call out with the bonds in your heart, and help will come."

I blinked. "What do you mean?" Before the elk could answer, we then heard a scream coming from inside the building. It sounded like... Clair!

"Clair!" Chase gasped, then turned to us. "Come on!"

"But what about..." I turned to the elk, but it was gone. As if it had vanished into thin air. I turned back to the building, remembering what he said. Call our for the bonds in our hearts...? I snapped out of my thoughts when Windrun nudged me forward again. "We'll save her, Windrun..." I promised.

Chase was already trying to bust the door down. He tried ramming his shoulder into it, but it wasn't doing any good. He resorted to using his foot to try and kick it open.

"Chase, chill. Do you want to bring every walker in Savannah down on us?" Dylan asked.

"I want to get to that creep and knock his lights out… is that a keypad?" We all looked at where he was pointing and saw there was a keypad. What's more, there was light coming from it. This guy, this Santos, had electricity?! Chase punched in a code, but it turned red.

I got an idea and summoned my Keyblade, pointing it at the door. A beam of light shot out of it and a moment later, we heard a click. Dylan hesitated before he cautiously pushed the door open. "Dang, am I glad you got that thing." Dylan said. He didn't say dang. Seeing that nothing was leaping out at us, we slipped inside, seeing a hall ahead of us. I blinked at that. There was nothing outside that indicated a hall should be here. Was it made to look smaller on the outside than on the inside? And what's with all the crates?

"Clair?" Chase called out.

Dylan glared at his brother. "Are you trying to let them know we're here?!" he quietly hissed.

"Well, how are we supposed to find her this way? Just peek through every door?"

Sarah opened a door, to find a walker chained to the wall snarling at them. She slammed it shut before looking at us again. "Not her!" she said with a wide eyed look.

I nodded in agreement before I approached another door, cautiously pressing my ear to it. I could hear snarling in it as well. Definitely can't open this one.

We heard screaming again. All of us cringed before we followed the direction the screaming came from. Chase was running faster than the rest of us as he looked around quickly. "Clair? Clair?"

"Impossible. How did you find this place? How did you even get here?" Santos's voice came on over an intercom. "I left all of you for dead back in the state you used to call Michigan."

"Leave Clair alone!" I snapped, avoiding his question. We then began to hurry down the hall. Wherever the voice was coming from, chances were that Clair was there as well.

"No. I need her for my experiments. For Madsane's experiments."

"You're sick in the head!" Dylan spat as we ran through the halls.

"That's what they said about my leader on our world. They mocked him. Gave him that ridiculous name. All because they didn't see the genius of his work. But he's turned it around. Made it something that people will respect."

"You mean fear." Sarah said.

We heard Santos chuckle. "Same thing."

I clenched my free fist since my other hand had my Keyblade in it. "It's not."

"Well, I can't have you ruining things right now, so you'll have to make do with these." Doors opened and we stopped as robots came out. Yeah, that's right. Robots. They were unlike robots I had seen before. They had a weird helmet design, and thick legs that could do some serious damage with their kicks. Their arms did morph into blasters that they pointed at us.

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me!" I exclaimed as I readied my Keyblade. Chase, Sarah, and Dylan got whatever weapons they had on them ready. Lasers were fired from the robots as they marched towards us, so we had to dive down to avoid them. Thank goodness for conveniently placed crates.

"Dude, this is like its out of a sci-fi movie!" Chase called.

I got an idea and tried throwing my Keyblade at a robot. It hit the robot, knocking it down before it then returned to my hand in a flash of light. My eyes widened as I dove down to avoid another laser.

"We can't keep dodging!" Dylan said as he fired.

"What do we do?!" Sarah asked, gulping as she took a shot at a robot with a gun that we had given her.

I remembered the words... calling on someone when in need... I focused, thinking of someone as I tried to avoid another laser. "Please help," I said as I held on to my Keyblade.

Suddenly, my Keyblade started to glow. It then fired a beam of light, and then, someone else was standing there. It appeared to be a woman, except she had green skin, and was taller than me. She had to be close to seven feet at least, and was dressed in some sort of purple and white workout outfit, and boots that came up to her knees. Her clenched fists seemed to have fingerless gloves. And she was ripped, like she could tear a tank apart with her bare hands. Even the robots stopped firing as they processed what they were seeing as the figure turned to look at me.

"W-W-W-WHAT THE-?!" was all I could scream as I nearly fell back in shock.

"Hey, kid. Looks like you could use a hand." The figure said.

Chase found himself stuttering. "B-b-but, a-a-aren't y-you... the She-Hulk?!"

"That's me."

"But... how?!" I gasped.

The robots resumed firing, getting the attention of the green hero. "Okay, we'll talk later. Come on!" She-Hulk said as she grabbed me, helping me up. Some of the lasers hit her, making her frown as she turned to them. "You did not just shoot me." She then charged at a robot, punching a hole through its chest. She then began to swing it around, sending robots crashing into each other and into the walls, where to my surprise, they managed to hold together. They tried to get up, but she kept punching and kicking holes in them, and she even tore several apart with her bare hands.

My jaw dropped. She-Hulk was right in front of us kicking butt! I saw one coming at me, so I hit it with my Keyblade. It grabbed my Keyblade and aimed its laser at me. "Oh sh-"

However, She-Hulk saved me before the laser could hit me. She threw an arm she tore off, and it went through the robot like a javelin. The robot short circuited, then fell down as it was destroyed. She-Hulk smirked at that. "How do you like that?"

"I love it!" I said, remembering how She-Hulk was one of my favorite superheroes. She-Hulk smirked, punching another robot's head off. I threw my Keyblade at one near her. Dylan and Chase were no longer firing because it was a waste of ammo, and the robots armor was too tough for bullets, so they dove for cover where Sarah was hiding. As the Keyblade came back, I saw that now the robots had been dismantled. "That was awesome!" I managed to say.

She-Hulk smiled, and then she vanished while the others came out of hiding. Before we could say anything I heard another scream. "This way!" I said to the other three as we ran past the destroyed robots.

The hallway finally ended at some door, but it was locked. I held out my Keyblade to unlock it. A light flew out and hit the keypad. The door then opened up for us. We ran in to find Clair strapped to some sort of operating table, with lots of cuts open all over her.

We gasped in horror. "CLAIR!" We checked on her, but she looked malnourished.

She lifted her head up, looking very surprised to see us. "G... Guys?!"

"Oh my gosh." Chase, who didn't say gosh, rushed to her to free her from the table. Sarah, Dylan, and I rushed to help him out.

However, it looked like she was held down by some energy things. "What the..." I tried again, but no luck. Wait, maybe the Keyblade could help! I pointed it at the restraints. A beam of light shot out of it again, just like before with the doors. The restraints then vanished. We immediately helped her up.

Chase, to my surprise, hugged her first. "Are you okay?!" She gasped in pain at that. His eyes widened before he quickly let go. "Sorry! Sorry."

I hesitated before I placed my hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Clair. We're here now. We're gonna get you outta here."

She coughed. "Santos... told me... something terrible..."

"What did he tell you...?" Sarah asked, coming to help us support her as well.

"That... I'm... not from... here..."

"Clair, it's okay..." I told her as comforting as I could.

"We already know that." Sarah told her.

"You... you what...?" Clair asked, her eyes widening after she coughed again.

"We weren't sure if we should tell you. We were afraid we might cause you to have another headache and pass out." Dylan explained.

"And you're clearly in enough pain, as it is." Chase told her.

Clair was shocked.

"Oh, isn't this touching?" Santos said over the intercom.

We all immediately tensed, but we also kept supporting Clair.

"Here you are, set to rescue the one who put you all in danger."

"She's never put us in danger." Chase retorted firmly.

"She's the reason the Heartless are here." Santos said.

I clenched my Keyblade tightly. "Shut up." Turning to my friends, I added, "Come on, Clair. We're getting you out of here."

"People rescuing others who have been hurt? Oh, this takes me back. Watching the videos detailing how compassion brought this world down."

Sarah stopped. "What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you figured it out? My boss was the mastermind, the one behind all this. The one who created the walking dead was Doctor Madsane."

Time seemed to freeze for us here as my heart almost stopped. What...? This... this guy... Madsane... created the virus...? He... he killed all those people... HE KILLED MY MOM AND DAD!

"And she's from the same world that Madsane and I are from."

"That doesn't mean she's the same as he is!" Chase retorted, though he was still just as shocked.

"Well, you can argue with me all you want, though the way I see it, she deserves your wrath just as we do."

Dylan shook his head. "You just shut the heck up." he snarled. Only he didn't say heck.

"Oh, I'll be doing that. I got what I needed, and now it's time for me to go." The intercom then turned off.

I seethed before slamming my Keyblade into a cart, denting it before I kicked it away. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time... Santos was working for, if not with, the monster who destroyed everything. My world, my civilization, my dreams, my family. He destroyed it all. I wanted to tear that jerk's head off for mocking all this, for speaking of our pain like it was something for a comedy.

"We have to stop him." Sarah said.

Alarms then went off, and we felt the base shake. "Oh, come on!" I growled.

Chase hoisted Clair onto his back, earning a cry of surprise from her. "Time to go!" He said as we ran out. The alarms kept blaring as we ran through the hall. I just threw my Keyblade at one to shut it up as my Keyblade returned to my hand. We then felt shaking. We nearly lost our balance, but kept ourselves up. Chase somehow kept his grip on Clair. The doors around us were opening up...

"Ohhhh crap..." I muttered, unconsciously grabbing Dylan's hand. With snarls, walkers began to stumble out. Sarah gasped. I kicked one away as I stabbed it with my Keyblade. Dylan began shooting others. After what seemed like an eternity, I could see the exit up ahead. "Come on!"

We ran towards it as fast as we could, killing walkers as they came out. We pushed our way through until we eventually reached the exit. When we got out, the building behind us collapsed. Our eyes widened at that, backing away. We did it... we saved Clair. But now we saw that from the rubble, a machine was rising.

"What... is... that...?!" Chase gasped as we all backed away. Windrun even grabbed Sarah and tugged her back.

"It's... it's some sort of robot." I said. But even then that wasn't fully accurate. It had long black limbs, and one of the eyes was yellow. Over the metal breastplate was a red insignia. Its feel reminded me of the Heartless, but this one was several hundred feet tall!

We gawked at it as we continued to back away. I kept my grip tight on my Keyblade just in case. It was then we heard something else. A roar. But that of an animal. The ground seemed to shake beneath us, so we all held onto each other tightly. I even grabbed onto Windrun's reigns. It was then I saw it. And when I did, I realized it was the creature from my dream. The one I had around the time we were taken to Howe's. My eyes widened at the sight of it, nearly falling down.

It strongly resembled a dinosaur, except it had a draconian snout. It's back was covered with armor, and had spikes growing out of it. It also had three intimidating horns on its head. A tail knocked over a building, revealing a club at the end of it. But... had it been here this whole time? No. Something inside told me that what I had seen that night hadn't been something happening then, but something that was now being fulfilled.

Clair's eyes widened as she looked at it. "Tetsukyo!"

"You know what that is?!" Sarah gasped

She grasped her head. "I... I do."

The robo-Heartless turned and ran towards Tetsukyo. We quickly checked to make sure she was okay as Tetsukyo roared at the robo-Heartless. A lot of her cuts looked like they were getting infected. I cussed with worry. "Come on, we gotta get you fixed up." I told her.

Dylan rummaged through our supplies as the monsters charged at each other. The saurian monster rammed into the cyborg Heartless, tipping it off balance and knocking it over. Chase gasped as we saw walkers climbing out of the rubble, but they got crushed by the head of the Heartless.

I let out a sigh of relief at that as Chase and I kept our support for Clair. "Find anything, yet?!" I asked Dylan.

He nodded as he pulled some medical supplies out. "Okay, this should help!" He got a cloth and dabbed a bit of anti-septic on it. "Clair, I need you to hold still, okay?" Sarah, Chase, and I helped hold her while Dylan got to work. He started to dab it on the cuts. Clair gasped, wincing.

Behind us, we heard the monsters continuing to duke it out. I could hear the sound of metal being hit as Tetsukyo kept fighting the robo-Heartless. Dylan, however, refused to be distracted while he kept cleaning out her wounds. Clair bit her lip, but Chase tried to comfort her. "Hey, hey, it's okay... it's okay."

I kept my eye out for more walkers, and saw some coming from the city. However, they ended up being squashed by Tetsukyo's foot. I sighed at that, thanking heaven for that monster's unwitting intervention. I could see how the arrival of this monster had really damaged the city. The streets were flooded, and many buildings had been reduced to rubble by the fighting. As the monster swung its tail, it took out some buildings before it hit the Heartless, knocking it over.

Clair gasped in pain while Dylan continued to work on her. He pulled the rag back when he heard her. "Sorry!" Sarah then began to look over the wounds he had cleaned.

"How is she?" Chase asked her.

"I don't know, I'm trying to clean the cuts the best I can!" Dylan said.

"You're doing fine." Sarah said. "But…"  
"But what?"

"I think she needs a doctor."

"How are we supposed to find a- wait... that elk healed Anne's shoulder!" Chase remembered. "Maybe he can help heal her, too!" He then hoisted Clair onto Windrun, who had immediately knelt down so she could get on. She grunted in pain from that. Windrun softly nickered as I looked back, seeing the fight was still going on behind us. We should get out of here while we can...

"Follow me." We heard the elk say. We gasped as we looked up, seeing the elk standing not too far away as it stared at us. However, I could see the reason for his words. Coming at us from all sides were walkers, and lots of them. They must've been drawn by the sound of the fight.

My heart nearly stopped at the sight as I nearly froze up, but Dylan snapped me out of it. "Anne, come on!" I whirled around and together, we headed towards the elk as it led us away in a perpendicular line, away from the walkers, but not towards the fight. The elk took a few steps past a police car that had been run off the road some time ago, and then it vanished into thin air.

Sarah gasped at that, but the brown horse just kept going. He looked back at us, as if expecting us to keep going. The four of us exchanged a look before we followed him. Our hesitation had cost us, because the walkers were even closer, and closing in fast. They rasped and snarled at a chance for a six course meal consisting of five humans and a horse. Fear filling me, I kept a tight grip on my Keyblade, ready to go down fighting if I had to.

When Windrun made it to the spot the elk disappeared at, he vanished too with Clair on him. We all gasped at that, but a look at Sarah told me an idea had crossed her mind. Before I could stop her, she ran to the spot, and like the others she vanished into thin air.

The older of the Enhearts eyes widened with realization. "Now I get it!" Chase said as he made a beeline to the spot, vanishing when he reached it. Dylan and I exchanged a look before we ran too, snarls saying the walkers were almost on top of us. When we got there, we found ourselves surrounded by light, and the snarling of the walkers vanished. I blinked and covered my eyes to keep myself from being blinded. During this time, I got a splitting headache, like the horse went and kicked me in the head.

"Gah!" I let out a cry as I grasped my head from the sensation. Then, it vanished as fast as it had appeared. I winced while I recovered from that. What was that all about? Then I noticed out surroundings had changed. We were now in some sort of town, but it was different from what I had seen. For one thing, the roads looked like they were cobblestones. And the buildings were all clustered together. No fences, no yards, nothing like that. However, I also noticed there were no walkers. There were people walking around shopping, eating, visiting with friends. Everything was… alive.

The twelve-year old gasped. "This is the place from the manga."  
"Radiant Garden, if I remember." Chase agreed.

I looked around with awe, realizing that they were right. But... how did we... get here? Did... did the elk bring us here?

Clair groaned from the saddle. Our heads jerked in her direction as Chase and I checked on her.

"Clair?" Chase asked.

She clutched her side while she looked around. "Radiant Garden... I'm... back..."

"You... remember this place?" I asked her cautiously.

"I do. I remember everything." She looked at us. "I am sorry."

"What for?" I asked.

She looked at us. "I am from the same world as Madsane. I can't help but feel I share some of the blame for destroying your world. Now I brought you into another, unprepared."  
"Don't think like that." Chase told her. "That was his fault. Not yours. He's the one who has to answer for that."

"And we already know about other worlds." Sarah reached into her backpack. "We found this manga… wait. What? It's gone!"  
"Really?" I looked in. Yeah. It wasn't there anymore. That was weird. "What happened?"  
Clair shrugged. "How long have you had it?"

"I found it in the town, with the baby walker." Sarah told her. "You walked past it, but it seemed to call out to me."

She thought about it. "Must've been magic that sent it to you, to fulfill a purpose. Maybe it's gone now because its role is done. But I wouldn't worry about it now."

"And we've got more important things to worry about." Dylan said. "Right now, you need medical attention. Where's the nearest hospital?"  
"I don't know. But I do know who could help." She clicked her tongue and Windrun began to walk forward. "Come. I think you should meet Merlin."

"We'll go with you wherever you go." Sarah told her.

The fifteen-year old smiled at her. "Thanks, but I can't help but feel that before this next adventure is over, you're all probably going to wish to face walkers again."  
"Not in a million years." I said. "No force on this or any world, or in heaven, will get me to wish for walkers again."

* * *

 **And there we are. The last chapter of this story. I still have one more thing to post before I will call this completed, so keep an eye out.**


	31. Author's Note

Hi everyone,

I wanted to thank you for bearing through this story. I had my doubts about this several times, and even took it down once as a result. But it was the persuasion of readers like you, sending notes and asking about where the story was, that brought it back from the dead, pun intended. Some of you were left with questions about the characters and story, so I'll answer them here:

The Good and Bad X-Boy

Yes, there will be a sequel later on. Dylan, Chase, and Anne will be joining Clair and her cousin in my Kingdom Hearts universe, which I'm still working on. I was trying to do it as a comic that would be published on DeviantArt, but I'm trying to watch my finances regarding this. However, I do plan on doing a sequel (or two) where Anne, Dylan, Chase, and Sarah return to the Walking Dead world, during the events of The Walking Dead: The New Frontier. My only concern is I want to try and avoid doing a repeat of the story in the game, because we know the story by now, so why have them go through it completely? I don't know if I'll start on it right away or if I should wait.

SORARULES23

The reason why I had so few of the characters see the truth in Clair's origin is because I didn't want to have to try and juggle a large cast of characters. Writing a story is essentially describing a play. Only a certain amount of characters can be on stage at a time, because if you have too many, you'll take away from the story. But some of the characters will get a second chance to escape the horrors of the world where the dead don't stay down.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to see this journey. I wish I was able to record gameplay of TellTale's Walking Dead games because I would like to show you how things went with Lee and Clem before she got to where she was in this story, as well as how things would've happened if Clair had not shown up in this world. Sadly, The New Frontier is still not available for Apple devices, so I wouldn't be able to record that gameplay.

As for why Anne was able to summon She-Hulk, it's because of my Marvel Universe, which is shown in the stories Iron Man: Making a Hero, and Avengers: War Heroes. It's also connected to my Kingdom Hearts universe, because of the Disney/Marvel deal. I've read a lot regarding having Marvel in Kingdom Hearts, but I think it would be too complicated because the Marvel universe is huge. If it does get included, I think it would do better as its own separate universe that is connected to the Kingdom Hearts universe through some means, while maintaining itself as its own separate reality. And since Square Enix is working on The Avengers Project, maybe we'll see their interpretations of Marvel's characters appear. But I digress.

Thank you for staying with me on this journey. If anyone is willing to help me write and/or edit my stories, send me a note and I'll get back to you. And special thanks to AquaDestiniesEmbrace, I_heart_Lyoko, HiddenTruthandLies2, and everyone else who helped write this story.

DinoWriter23


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